G L I T C H
by aqueenofokay
Summary: They say that playing too many video games can give you nightmares...Evan only hopes that he can wake up from this one.
1. Chapter 1

"Look at him! He's glitching out!" Lui cried through Evan's headphones.

"What are you doin'?" Jonathan laughed, talking over the others. Evan's room was dark, illuminated by the bright colours of his Grand Theft Auto game. He watched his character glitch, letting out a sleepy giggle as he did. Their recording session had gone on for hours, long after it had gotten dark; the green numbers on his clock telling him it was past midnight. Evan forced back another yawn, trying to keep his eyes open.

"I don't know!" Evan laughed. They continued to laugh about it until it finally stopped, quickly becoming preoccupied by something else. Evan felt himself leaning back in his chair, his eyes starting to close as he listened to his friends. His head nodded forward, resting against his chest as his controller slipped from his hands to his desk. The loud bang startled Evan who sat up as he let out a startled cry.

"Evan? You okay?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah...I'm just tired is all. Falling asleep at my desk." Evan said as he reached for his controller.

"Pinch yourself and you'll wake up." Brock suggested. Evan wasn't sure if he was serious or not. He tried it anyways, pinching his arm. It made him wince but did nothing to wake him up.

"If you need to go to bed now, we can finish up this session." Lui suggested. Evan shook his head though they wouldn't see him.

"No...No...I can stay awake." Evan smiled. The countless hours of editing always managed to catch up to him but it was nights like this that made it all seem worth it. Being able to have fun with his long distance friends made him feel not so lonely. "Why don't we do a mission or something?" They all agreed, arguing over which one before they finally decided on one.

They played their first attempt, yelling at each other when one by one, they all died till they lost their lives and failed. Evan's eyes started to droop again, leaning back in his comfortable chair. He fought back a yawn, his eyes closing as he listened to his friends talk about their new plan for the mission which was just to not die.

A cold breeze sent chills through Evan, forcing him to curl in on himself. His controller slipped from his hand, falling to the floor with a bang but it wasn't enough to wake Evan. Tyler's distant laughter echoed in his ears as a sudden force pushed him backward.

His eyes shot open, expecting to hit the floor but he continued to fall. Around him, the world seemed dark, neon lights flashing past him as his ceiling was replaced with a dark night sky, stained orange with the lights of a city. He heard a scream, echoing in his ears as he realised it was himself screaming as he flailed his arms out, desperate to grab onto anything.

He couldn't see the road coming up to meet him, his mind frantically trying to understand what was happening. He tried to breath, feeling something rubber around his head that made it feel like he was breathing in chemicals that suffocated him as he fell to what had to be his death.

This had to be a dream, a nightmare. Evan had always hated heights, it seemed only right to have a nightmare of falling from one. He closed his eyes tightly, hoping that he would wake up. He remembered what Brock said, struggling to fight against the wind to pinch his arm but it did nothing and he continued to fall through the dark. He willed himself to wake up, to hear anything else besides his screaming and the wind roaring around him.

Instead, a sickening crack sent a shock of pain through him and darkness settled over him.

"Why did you push him?"

"He was being a fucking idiot. He's fine! No need to freak out."

"Look at all the blood! What if you Glitched him?"

"I didn't! He's fine! So what if there is all the blood...We've done worse to each other before. This ain't nothing and you know it."

"Let's get the mask off...See how bad his head is."

As Evan came to, he felt hands on either side of his head, pulling off whatever heavy rubber mask that made every breath feel like a struggle. Warm night air filled his lungs with a burning breath, the ache of broken bones overwhelming him. As much as he thought that he was breaking and dying, it felt like he was being put back together again, piece by broken piece.

"He's coming back. I told you he would. Evan? Can you hear me?" A familiar voice said, sounding far away in the heavy darkness that still surrounded Evan. In his muffled mind, he wondered how such a familiar voice could be so close when he knew they should be far away. There shouldn't be hands on him that were supposed to be far away. "Evan?"

His dark eyes opened slowly, taking in the orange, light stained sky. No stars sparkled in the sky, just helicopters and planes, the man made shooting stars. He couldn't understand how he had ended up outside when he has just been inside, falling asleep on his chair.

Evan decided that this could only be a dream, a dream of a L.A sky and his friend's voices echoing in his ears. His eyes closed again, feeling exhausted as if he had been running for days come. He laid on the cold, damp cement, hearing his friend's voices that he knew had to be coming through the headphones he had been wearing when he had fallen asleep but what they were saying seemed so odd, nothing making sense to Evan.

"Check his eyes. That's the only way you can know if he is a Glitch now or not…You know that. Blood won't tell you anything."

"What if Ev is a Glitch? What are you going to do?"

"Just check his fucking eyes, Tyler."

Rough hands were suddenly cupping Evan's hand, shaking his head in an attempt to wake him from the sleep that was threatening to take him under. His eyes opened slowly, focusing on the face of his friend hovering over him. As soon as his eye's opened, they were forced open as Tyler peered at his dark eyes closely, not letting him blink. Evan struggled against him, a sore pain making him want to wince.

"T-Tyler…"Evan stammered, struggling to push the taller man off him.

"Are his eyes glitching?" His attention was drawn to the man standing beside them, a monkey mask on his head and a disturbing blood stained pig mask held tight in his hands. Tyler held onto Evan's face tighter, forcing him to look at him.

There was no sound on the empty, neon lit street lined with tall buildings. In the distance, they could faintly hear a police siren, the wailing sound echoing among the buildings like Evan's friend's voices had in his headphones. Evan realised that he was laying in a large puddle of blood, the dark warm liquid reflecting the neon lights. His eyes widened, fear seizing him as he struggled against Tyler again, wanting to get out of what could only be his blood.

"No." Tyler finally said. He let go of Evan's head, reaching for something beside him. It was a bright orange and gold mask, the large eyes of the owl staring at Evan who hadn't even thought of such a silly object being real before. He gave it to Evan as he helped him up, a sigh of relief escaping Evan's lips to be out of the puddle of blood. Evan stared down at the owl mask, not sure if he was still dreaming or not. "He's still our Evan."

"Where are we? This doesn't look like L.A." Evan wondered, looking up at the tall towers as they walked through the streets towards what Tyler had called 'home' though Evan knew their homes were all over the country, all over the world. The city seemed to be more neon than Evan had ever seen it, the bright lights and constant sound of sirens in the distance seeming overwhelming to him.

The man with the monkey mask that Evan realized with some embarrassment was Marcel, laughed at his question. "How hard did you hit your head, Ev?"

"P-Pretty hard…" Evan guessed that was right thing to say. He knew this had to be a dream but everything felt so real. His hand went up to the back of his head, feeling only dried blood where there should be a fatal wound and broken bone. He was glad for the owl mask over his face to hide his constant expression of fear and amazement. "C-Can you help me refresh my memory?" Evan asked, deciding to play along with whatever his subconscious had thrown him into. Marcel laughed again, his eyes narrowing under his mask as if trying to figure out if Evan was serious or not.

"Are you fucking with me? Ev, you've never been so weird after a Come Back before."

"Los Santos, Ev. That's where you are." Tyler said calmly, shooting a glare at Marcel. It was Evan's turn to laugh, disbelief filling him.

"I knew I've been playing that game too much...It's giving me nightmares now." Evan laughed.

"What?" Marcel said, bringing Evan back to the surreal reality of what was happening around him. He found himself remembering what Brock told him again, his right hand pinching his left arm to see if it'd wake him up before things got any weirder. Yet the pinch did nothing. He was still there, walking down a neon street with strange versions of his friends.

"Nothing...I'm fine." Evan lied with a smile.

The apartment building was quiet, a purple neon glow washing over them as they entered the tall building. They rode the elevator to the top in awkward silence. Evan kept scratching at the dried blood, trying to figure out why he wasn't dead. He had taken the mask off, the golden rubber feathers now red with blood.

"You were being a jackass so I pushed you over the rail." Tyler had explained casually when Evan had asked what happened. "Don't tell Marcel but I was actually scared that I Glitched you cause your skull was crushed in so bad before you started your Come Back."

Glitch. The word as Evan knew it in this GTA game was when something strange happened to a player, normally something funny. The way that Tyler said it made it sound like something to be scared of... like death. Marcel or Tyler hadn't said the words that directly meant death but they implied it with Glitch. It terrified Evan. He had to wake up from this nightmare before he figured out what a Glitch really means in this Wonderland of a world.

The elevator doors opened onto a dimly lit hallway with only two polished wood doors. Evan followed Tyler and Marcel nervously, strangely aware of the sound of the elevator closing and their footsteps on the wood floor. He could also hear voices spill out from behind one of the doors that Marcel opened with a shiny key, warm light spilling into the hallway.

"You're back early!" Another familiar voice said. Evan stumbled, having to stop himself from looking so amazed. He had never seen all of his friends in one room before. They all were dressed strange, some with masks on, some without them. They were all around the large living room, playing a video game or talking among themselves. It should be impossible for them all to be there. Some lived in other states, other countries yet here they were.

"Yeah, Evan took a tumble." Tyler said, taking his mask off.

"Or did you push him?" A figure in blue who had been sitting on the couch when they walked in turned to look at them, his eyes meeting Evan's wide ones.

"D-Delirious…" Evan whispered. Even in a nightmare, he still wore that white mask but Evan knew it was really him.

"You got me. But whatever, he's fine. He isn't Glitching." Tyler reassured them. "You should've seen all that blood though... Didn't know he had all that in him!" Tyler laughed as if there was nothing wrong with what he had just said. No one else seemed to mind it either except Evan who was pinching his arm again in a desperate attempt to wake up.

"Evan? Are you okay?" Craig was suddenly in front of him, pulling his owl mask off and looking intently at his dark eyes. Evan almost laughed at the sight of him, the worn suit and bright yellow flip flops a joke that he'd never think to be real.

"He isn't Glitching!" Tyler told him again.

"Well he doesn't seem like himself. Did he hit his head?" Craig demanded, making Evan turn around so he could check the back of his head for damage.

"Well obviously. That's what made him Come Back." Tyler sighed, walking to the kitchen where he grabbed himself a beer.

"I saw it, Craig. Evan was on the ledge by the railing of this building poking fun at Tyler who grabbed his collar. I thought he was just joking around but he threw him over the railing. I heard Evan scream and then he hit the ground. There was a lot of blood, more than we'd ever seen so we were scared we Glitched him. He came too and there was nothing wrong but he couldn't remember where he was." Marcel explained, the room leaning to hear. "It's probably just a part of the Come Back process."

"What's a Glitch?" Evan suddenly asked, surprising all of them. They looked from one another, wondering if Evan was serious. He felt like he had said the wrong thing, averting his gaze away from his friends.

"Are you serious?" Daithi laughed, glancing at the others who also smiled though the nervous looks in their eyes seemed odd against their smiles. Evan realized that they might think that he was one of these Glitches that they were so scared of. His eyes widened as he stammered, struggling to think of an explanation as to why he couldn't remember.

"He hit his head guys. Fucking lay off." Jonathan suddenly said, giving Evan a reassuring smile. He had his back. "You guys have all been through the Come Back process. You especially Daithi. Watch it or you'll experience it again." Jonathan threatened. Daithi and the others backed off, returning to the video game they had been playing when they arrived though still glanced at Evan as if waiting for him to turn into a zombie at any moment. "Come on. Getting some fresh air in your lungs after a Come Back always feels better." Jonathan said, leading Evan to the balcony. He slid the door closed so Evan could pretend that he couldn't feel the question gazes of his friends.

"C-Can I trust you, Delirious?" Evan asked, turning to look at his closest friend. He knew the voice so well, but the face hidden behind the mask, the big eyes and smile, seemed so unfamiliar.

"Of course you can. Why would you ask something like that?" Jonathan sounded offended by a such a question. He leaned against the railing, looking out over the large, neon city. There were a few familiar things that Evan knew made up the Los Angeles landscape, but much of it seemed different, some areas bright with colour while others were dark and empty.

"I feel like I'm dreaming. I don't remember anything…" He had to stop himself from saying that he didn't know anything about this strange world. "About Glitches...about where I am...About what is happening to me...I swear that nothing is wrong with me...At least I think so. Help me, Delirious. Please tell me what I'm missing." Jonathan stared at him for a few long moments, his eyes seeming to stare intently into Evan's.

"Glitches are...Us." Jonathan finally said. "When we get hurt, like you getting thrown off that building for example... Something painful happens…" Jonathan paused, struggling to find the right words.

"Death. A fall like that kills someone." Evan finished for him but he only looked more confused.

"Uh...If that makes sense to you, sure though I have no idea what that , we have what is called the Come Back where our wounds are healed and we are back to being ourselves in no time." Jonathan explained. "You should remember this, Ev."

"Like a respawn…" Evan whispered, still trying to make sense of what Jonathan was saying. Now he really felt like he had been playing too many video games.

"But sometimes...The Come Back won't work...something takes over us, corrupts us down to the bones. We call it "Glitching." The body comes back but what made us...us...The energy of us...Is gone. It's replaced with something evil, something that wants to hurt those who aren't Glitches and make them into the same monsters." Jonathan stared at the dark parts of the city, listening to the constant sounds of sirens.

"Why was everyone looking at my eyes?" Evan asked after a moment, forgetting to act like he should already know why. Jonathan gave him a funny look that faded when he realised that he was serious.

"You must have hit your head pretty hard. You can tell if someone is becoming a Glitch if their eyes pixelate like a malfunctioning screen or if their wounds aren't healing. Glitches are always bleeding." Jonathan sighed, seeming disturbed by the conversation. "I've seen it happen. It's terrifying, Evan. If you were one, we'd have to destroy you. None of us want that no matter how much of an asshole you can be." Jonathan laughed, turning to head back inside. "You'll feel better in the morning. Get some sleep."

"Delirious." Evan stopped him, looking up at him with big eyes. "You believed me...there is nothing wrong with me, right? I'm not dreaming...am I?" None of this made sense to him but he had to believe that something was real. He could barely remember falling asleep at his computer desk and falling but even that seemed like a dream now. All of his friends were in one place and he was there too. He didn't know what reality he wanted to be real more.

"You are our Evan." Jonathan smiled under his mask. "Aren't you?"


	2. Chapter 2

Warm morning light came in through the large windows, the shadows of the boys sleeping on the floor or the couches projected on to the brightly painted walls around them. There was no sound except for the occasional deep breath from one of the boys as they shifted in their sleep or rolled over to get more comfortable. The higher the sun rose, the louder the outside world seemed to be become, the sound of cars and a police siren waking Evan from his deep slumber.

He thought for a moment that he had woken up in his own bed and the nightmare was behind him until he sat up and took in the room around him. He didn't understand how he could have fall asleep in a dream and not wake up in reality.

Unless...this was real.

Evan shook his head as he laid back down, pulling the blanket over himself as he curled into a ball on the soft red couch. He remembered what Jonathan had said how he was still their Evan but he didn't know who that Evan was. He knew who he was to his friends as he knew them, voices over Skype with the occasional visit. Maybe he was supposed to act how he was when playing those games with his friends; aggressive, and loud. He couldn't do that to anyone real though. He cared to much to find joy in hurting them like in video games. This world and his own have consequences for such actions.

As his mind drifted through his fuzzy memories of what had happened since he woke up in that puddle of blood, he realised that Jonathan and the others didn't understand what death was. They had no concept of it because whatever fatal wounds they had would heal and they would come back. A Glitch must be the only form of death in this world.

Evan felt disturbed, trying to think of something else but the idea of death only existing in the form of becoming a monster kept coming back to mind. They thought he was becoming one, thought he was dying, because he couldn't remember what they wanted him to remember after hitting that pavement.

He rolled over, pressing his hand against the back of his head, feeling no wound, no scar, nothing but his head as it always was. He stared at the large windows, watching the city wake up around their quiet apartment building. The noise of the city got louder, almost uncomfortably loud to Evan but he did his best to block it out. Instead of listening to the harsh noise of the city, he listened to his friend's breath deeply, safe in their slumber. He had always wished to have a moment like this, to know that they were all there with him, happy and alive, not far away and only visible through a computer screen.

Feeling so comforted, even with the though of this being a terrifying nightmarish wasteland, Evan found himself falling asleep again, snuggling into the warm blanket that was over him.

"Do you believe him?"

"Of course I do."

"Loss of memory has never been a part of the Come Back before."

"He hit his head. Hard. Of course his head is going to be fuzzy."

"You've seen it, Brock. You've seen the Glitches get smarter. They mess with our heads now. They fuck with us like we're helpless prey. What if that's what is happening to Evan?"

"Shut up! Evan is Evan. It scares me too, Craig but I believe him. Don't bring it up again. Please. It's just easier to not think about that."

Evan listened to the voices of his friend's that had woken him. He wished he hadn't heard them. His hands curled into fists around his blanket, his eyes closed tightly as he tried to block out the harsh voices and instead now tried to listen to the sounds of the city instead but it was no use.

"What if I'm right, Brock?"

"We all become Glitches eventually, Craig. When Evan becomes one, or when you or anyone else becomes a Glitch, we'll deal with it. Right now, Evan is Evan and you are you. That's all that matters."

A gentle hand landed on Evan's shoulder, shaking him in a soft attempt to wake him. He opened his eyes, looking up at Brock who smiled at him.

"M-Morning…" Evan stammered, pretending to yawn. He didn't want them to know he had been listening.

"More like afternoon." Craig sighed, nudging Tyler awake with his foot. Tyler groaned angrily, grabbing Craig's ankles and pulled his feet out out from under him, sending him crashing to the hardwood floor. Around them, the others swore at Craig, his fall having woken them from their deep sleep. After getting over the pain of waking up suddenly, they decided they didn't want to spend the day inside.

Those who had masks pulled them over their faces, their animal faces blank unlike the smiles under them.

"It makes us feel more like a family. We're all the same but unique." Marcel had explained when Evan asked why they wore them, his voice muffled under his own monkey mask. As they headed towards the door, Tyler stopped Evan, holding something out to him.

"You forgot it." Tyler handed Evan his red and white leather jacket, seeing his eyes widen at the sight of it. Along with the mask, he had never believed that it to be real or that he could actually wear such a thing.

"T-Thank you…" Evan said as he pulled the jacket on. Tyler gave him a smile as he walked past him into the hallway. Evan stared down at the jacket and decided that maybe if this was real, it might not be so bad after all.

"Don't be such a little bitch and jump!"

The wind whipped around Evan, his cheeks feeling numb. They stood on the roof of a parking garage, their sports cars still hot from their drive that almost made Evan throw up on the fine leather of Tyler's interior. Now they were gathered in a group by the ledge of the roof, looking at the building that was across the alley way from them. It was Daithi's idea to have a contest to see who could make it across, his taller legs giving him a better advantage.

"You got it, Lui but if you don't, you'll have to scrape yourself off the pavement." Tyler joked. Lui took a deep breath, backing up to the cars and sprinted towards the edge, jumping with as much force as he had in his small body. Evan looked away, not wanting to see the result. He heard a crack and a small cry but the others cheered around them. Lui had missed the ledge with his feet but managed to grab onto the edge, his face hitting the hard cement. Daithi pulled him up, using his sleeve to wipe the blood off his face.

"W-Who is next?" Lui laughed, his voice sounding shaky with pain.

"I'll go." Jonathan said when no one else said anything. "What do we get if we make it across?"

"Just jump!" Daithi laughed.

"He's gonna fall like a rock." Marcel said quietly to Evan who felt sick with fear for his friends, more than he did in the car.

Just as Lui had, Jonathan backed up, his hands checking the straps of his mask to make sure they were tight enough. He glanced at Evan who had gone visibly pale and gave him a wink. He started to sprint, his legs carrying him closer to the edge where he jumped, his arms propelling through the air to make it to the next ledge. Evan turned away, resisting the urge to put his hands over his ears as he closed his eyes tightly. But once more, he heard his friends cheer when Jonathan made it across, having to roll once he hit the cement.

"Come on, Ev! You're turn!" Jonathan called once he was on his feet. Evan shook his head, backing away from the group.

"W-Why don't you make Craig or Brock go next? I don't-"

"Oh come on, Ev!" Tyler laughed, giving him a playful shove towards the edge that sent a jolt of panic through him. "Or are you suddenly scared of heights because of what happened last night?" He taunted, a smirk on his face. Evan glared at him, his hands curling into fists. He didn't want to let Tyler win this challenge but he knew he couldn't make that jump. He had never done something like that in his life, at least not the life that he remembered that they didn't. Maybe in this world he had before but all he could think was how he couldn't do it now.

"Go on, Evan." Craig said, his eyes staring intently at Evan's as if waiting for them to glitch. Evan clenched his jaw as he backed up to the cars, pressing his palms against the warm black matte metal of the sports car. He had to jump, had to prove to them that he was the Evan that they expected him to be. Or else he would be dealt with like Brock said. He took a deep breath, telling himself that it couldn't be that far of a jump and that he could make it easily.

He pushed himself away from the car, sprinting as hard as he could. His lungs heaved for air, the fear tightening his chest as he pumped his arms, his eyes on the ledge across from him where Jonathan stood. Then he was in the air, having propelled himself off the edge. It felt like time slowed, the ledge looking farther and farther away with every painful second that passed. His arms flailed, reached desperately for the ledge. He breathed heavily through his owl mask, the smell of rubber strong to his senses.

As he seemed to fly through the air, the thought occurred to him that if this was a dream, he could will himself to have great wings like an owl that would save him and take him far away from this constant near death experience. He spread his arms wide like they were wings, the sun glinting off the red and white leather of his jacket.

"Evan!" His foot missed the ledge, and he began to plummet towards the hard pavement several floors below. Flailing his arms out he grabbed onto the ledge just in time, the force of his jump making him hit his chin hard on the pavement. He hung from the ledge, pain shooting through him that made his muscles tense. He struggled to hold onto the ledge, struggling to pull himself over it. He glanced back over his shoulder at the others, his eyes begging them to help. He looked up at Daithi, Lui and Jonathan who also stood and watched him, waiting for him to pull himself up.

"H-Help me!" Evan cried, fighting the urge to look down. "I'm gonna fall! Please!"

"There isn't anything to fear, Ev!" Craig called out. his voice carrying over the alley.

Hands were suddenly on his wrists, pulling him up and over the ledge. Evan looked up at Jonathan with a look of gratitude, his body shaking with fear and adrenaline. He sat on the cement, looking across at the others who hadn't seemed to care at all when he had almost fallen to his death. He knew that was only right though that they didn't care, death doesn't exist in this world.

"It's okay, Ev. You're fine." Jonathan looked down at him, his eyes soft under his blood splattered mask. "Craig is right. You don't have anything to fear."

The bright yellow, pink and blue neon lights buzzed, a constant sound like the police sirens in the distance. The group of boys sat on the hoods of their sports cars or leaned against the sides, burgers and milkshakes in their hands. They were outside a diner, the neon lights bright in the dim evening light.

Evan stared down at his milkshake, still feeling too sick from the fear of earlier to want to eat. He sat on the hood of Tyler's sports car, slowly stirring his strawberry shake with his straw. The others were talking among themselves, joking around and stealing fries from each other. Their loud voices rang in Evan's ears, his grip tightening on his cup.

"You still owe me from the last bet! Give that back!"

"What bet?"

"The one from the maze! I axed you down first so you fucking owe me, Jonathan!"

"No you got Lui first! Come on, Daithi! Fuck off!"

"No I got you! Right, Lui?"

"He's right, Jon."

"Fuck you! I don't owe you shit!"

"Are you feeling okay?" Evan's head snapped up to look at Brock who smiled at him reassuringly as he sat down beside him. "You seem quiet."

"Just a little...sick is all." Evan said, looking back down at his red straw. He tried to block out the voices of his friends that were slowly getting louder the more they continued on the topic of owing each other. "Is it okay to feel that way after a Come Back?" He asked, after a few moments. He was still unsure of what was the right thing to say around them. They all seemed like they could snap at any moment at something that rubbed them the wrong way. They scared Evan despite how much he loved them. This dream could be a perfect world if it wasn't so bloody.

"It's okay...At least I think so though none of us have ever felt sick after a Come Back before. Maybe because you hit your head, it snapped something in you. You lost some memories that had made you who you were and now they are gone and you are kinda like someone else." Brock suggested. "You are reacting to things differently."

"That sounds complicated." Evan laughed but he felt uneasy. If there was anyone that he thought he could tell the truth to, it's be Brock or Jonathan but fear held his tongue.

"Guys calm down! You are fighting over fries!"

"Tyler, this fool owes me more than just meal! All those bets where I've wounded him to the point of a Come Back and he owes me!"

"Daithi chill the fuck out. Honestly."

"Don't tell me to chill! I want my money! You would too!"

"Not when we're trying to relax!"

"Just tell Jon to give me what he owes me! He owes Ev too!"

"Leave Evan out of this!"

"Why is everyone so aggressive?" Evan asked, moving closer to Brock and away from the tension coming from the others. Brock glanced at them, thinking for a moment he was just talking about what was happening till he saw the sad expression on Evan's face and realized that he meant all the time.

"Maybe because...We know we can hurt each other and we'll Come Back. We can't lose each other. We have no one else. People we knew before have Glitched. One day we will too but for now, we have each other as our family. And family members fight sometimes." Brock smiled.

A sudden loud bang echoed in Evan's ears, making him jump. His shake slipped from his hand as he stood slowly and shaking. It fell to the pavement, the styrofoam cup splitting as it hit the sun warmed pavement and spilled.

Evan could only stare, his friends backing away from Daithi and the still smoking gun in his hand. His wide eyes followed Daithi's angry stare to Jonathan who's mask was a bit crooked, his hands shaking as they slowly reached for his chest. A deep red stain began to blossom on his blue hoodie, blood dripping to the pavement and though the holes of his mask as he began to cough it up.

Jonathan fell to his knees, the only sound echoing through the parking lot was his wet, bloody coughs and the buzz of neon lights. Evan took a step forward, feeling Brock reach towards him and curl his hand around Evan's wrist in an attempt to pull him back. He got himself free from his grasp as Tyler stepped forward, giving Daithi a hard shove against Jonathan's shiny blue sports car. A hard punch to his nose sent blood splattering across the blue metal. With his bloody pig mask, Tyler looked like a type of demon in the neon light, the holes were his eyes should be were all black, filled with shadows. Evan watched as Tyler pulled out his own gun from his jacket, fear paralysing him in place.

"You want him to Come Back slow? You are making him suffer." Tyler yelled, giving Daithi another hard shove against the car."We never make each other suffer before a Come Back. That's how Glitches are created! If you make us suffer, I'll make you suffer!" Tyler's angry voice echoed throughout the parking lot. Evan watched with wide eyes, wanting to pull Jonathan into his arms and protect him from all this pain. Before he could move, Tyler turned, raising his gun to point it at Jonathan.

"Wait! What are yo-" Brock's hand clamped over Evan's mouth as he pulled him back. Everyone's questioning eyes were on Evan.

"M-Make...M-Make it quick…" Jonathan coughed, taking the attention away from Evan.

The next gunshot echoed through the parking lot, ringing painfully in Evan's ears as Jonathan fell forward onto the pavement, blood pooling around him. He became aware of someone screaming as he struggled against Brock who had no choice but to let him fall. The hard pavement cut open his hands and knees, blood and gravel smeared against his palms. Evan realised it was himself screaming, wailing and sobbing as if Tyler had really killed Jonathan.

"Why?" Evan screamed, tears streaming down his face. No one moved. No one said anything. They didn't understand Evan's pain. On the hood of the black car, the golden eyes of his owl mask seemed to watch everything, taking in the scene of the boys tensing with the feeling of being in presence of what they thought was a monster. "Why would you kill him?"


	3. Chapter 3

The white light buzzed constantly, sounding like a relentless mosquito in Evan's ears. He stood in the bathroom of the quiet apartment, his hands gripping the edge of the sink, his knuckles white and sore. He wasn't sure how long he had been standing there, but it didn't matter. He was waiting.

"Why? Why? He's our friend!" Evan had screamed, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face as his shoulders heaved with sobs. Everyone had stared at him with wide eyes as if he was a monster, as if he was a Glitch.

"Evan...Evan stop this. Right now." Craig had seemed to suddenly appear in front of Evan, staring down at him with dark, angry eyes. Evan forced himself to breathe while he shook with sobs. He looked up at Craig, hardly able to recognize him as his friend. "You stop this right now, you fucking Glitch."

"Stop it!" Lui pushed Craig away from Evan. "Evan is Evan...Whatever this outburst is...There is a reason for it...Isn't there?" Lui had turned to Evan, his suspicion filled eyes demanding an explanation from him.

"I-I...I...I don't understand…" Evan had said, looking down at his spilled shake.

"You need to. Quick."

Now, Evan stared at his reflection in the smudged bathroom mirror. He wasn't sure how long this staring contest with himself would go on but he had to see. He had to see if his eyes were going to glitch like everyone thought they would. Once he had gotten back to the apartment, he locked himself in the bathroom, the only room he could trap himself in away from everyone else. It would be safer for them any way if he was the monster they thought he was.

Yet after what had felt like hours, Evan's eyes had not glitched. He did not turn into a monster. He crumbled to the cold, tiled floor, curling into a ball against the wall. Tears began to spill from his eyes as the feeling of being completely alone washed over him. He didn't know who those people were on the other side of the door. They wore his friend's faces but they were not them. They were violent, angry and cold. He remembered what Brock had said, his voice crackling through his headphones.

"Pinch yourself and you'll wake up." Evan pinched his arm, wishing with his whole being to wake up in his comfy chair with this horrible world locked behind a computer screen. He doubted that he would ever play that game again after this. Yet no matter how hard and how much he wished, nothing happened. He was still sitting on the floor of the cold white bathroom in an apartment that he was expected to call home. He pinched himself harder. He didn't stop when blood began to trickle down his arm to the white tile or when tears of pain fell down his face and ragged breaths racked his shoulders. He only stopped when he heard voices on the other side of the door.

"He's a Glitch, I'm telling you! We should break down the door and bash his head in while we have the chance. If we let this go on anymore he'll get monstr-"

"He isn't a Glitch. He is Evan. If he was a Glitch, he would have attacked us by now, smart or not."

"What about those things he said? They don't make sense, Jonathan! What does...k-kill mean?"

"I don't know. Please, just leave Evan alone...This will all make sense eventually…"

"You are just saying that because you care more about him, Jon."

"Don't say that, Craig."

"He's right, Jon."

"No! Leave him be! Tyler please!"

"We have to do something about him. If he is a Glitch...We have to get rid of him before he turns us into Glitches."

"So we go in there now and destroy him then. Easy."

"How can you say that? He's your friend! How could you talk about him like that?"

"That thing in there isn't my friend. Evan never cried at the sight of blood before. You know that isn't our Evan in there."

"Craig is right, Jon. This Evan is off...He could very well be a Glitch. We don't know for sure though if he is. We just can't go on not knowing. If one us turns into a Glitch because him…"

"That won't happen."

"How do you know?"

Evan stared at the white wall across from him, a feeling of sickness coming over him. He felt that if he left that room, if that door opened, he'd never live to make it back to his own world where his friends didn't feel the need to bash his skull in to feel safe again. Tears slipped down his cheeks slowly, falling onto his red and white jacket that he hadn't even bothered to take off. It was the only thing that felt real to him. On the floor where he had thrown it, his owl mask stared at him almost as intently as he had stared at his own reflecting, waiting for a glitch.

A knock at the door made Evan jump, looking up at it with wide, terror filled eyes. He curled his hands into fists, hoping that if he stayed silent, whoever was on the other side would leave him alone. A second knock echoed through the room, the loud noise upsetting to Evan who had become used to the constant buzz of the light.

"Evan?" Jonathan's soft voice said through the door. Evan felt relieved, but only a little bit. He didn't know if he had been convinced by the others to smash his head in on the tile floor or not. "Evan please let me in…"

Evan got to his feet slowly, stepping towards the door that he unlocked. He looked behind Jonathan to see if there were others there with baseball bats and guns but there was nothing behind him but an empty hallway. He stepped back, letting Jonathan in who closed the door behind him. Evan leaned against the wall before sliding back down it to the cold tiled floor. He didn't want to look at Jonathan, a part of him still unable to accept that Jonathan was really there, that he was really alive like nothing was wrong. Jonathan sat down beside him, his blue hood pulled up over his head. "Are you okay, Ev?" He asked, turning to look at his friend. Evan didn't say anything, hugging his knees as he stared at the cold, tiled floor and listened to the light buzzing. "The guys are scared...They've never seen you...break down like that before. They've never heard those words that you said before. They think that you aren't the person that you used to be anymore."

"Who do you think I am?" Evan asked after a moment, his eyes still on the tiled floor.

"I believe you, Evan. You are who you say you are. Evan. I'll make sure they don't hurt you." Jonathan said softly. Evan didn't want to tell him that he didn't believe him when he said that. Jonathan could do nothing to defend himself against Tyler and those who firmly believed that Evan was a monster despite what he said.

"I'm scared." Was all Evan said instead of what he truly felt.

"It's okay, Ev. We'll figure it out somehow. Maybe your head will heal and you'll be back to normal. Just...for your sake...Don't freak out when one of us gets hurt again." Jonathan laughed. "Brock told me all about it."

"It isn't funny." Evan whispered, barely loud enough for Jonathan to hear. Jonathan looked at Evan with confusion, not sure why he was making a big deal out of it. "I thought you were gone...That isn't funny."

"Oh...I-I...I'm sorry, Evan. I didn't know that that upset you so much. It never had before." Jonathan said quietly, looking away from Evan who had started to cry again, his tears falling onto red leather. "Please don't cry, Evan! I'm right here! Everything is fine! None of us are ever going to hurt you!" Jonathan pulled him into a warm hug, his blue hoodie feeling soft against Evan's tear stained cheek. "It's all okay. We love you."

Evan couldn't stop the sobs. Hearing those words and being able to hug someone who he thought he'd never be so physically close to before brought more tears to his eyes. A part of him, the part that feared for his life with every passing moment wanted to wake up. That part was okay with never being able to hug Delirious because it meant he wouldn't try to bash his skull into the wall till there was nothing left but flesh and pieces of bone.

Another part of him wanted to stay like this, in this jacket, on this cold floor with his faces pressed against that blue hoodie. All of his friends in one place, all of them happy and seeming to have not a care in the world. It was what he always wanted and now he had it. He couldn't let it go because he was scared. He was their Evan. Aggressive, violent and care-free. He could be that Evan. What is the difference between computer programmed blood and real blood?

Evan laid on the red couch, the warm blanket pulled around himself. The room wasn't as silent as Evan would hope it was. His friends were restless in their sleep, tossing and turning, signing and groaning as they stretched to get more comfortable. The city outside seemed just as restless, sirens wailing constantly and car horns and the occasional bang that sounded like fireworks echoing through the night. It was all too loud to let him sleep peacefully.

"It'd be easy to do it now. He's sleeping. Wouldn't even know what happened to him."

"No. Jonathan would know. We'll have to figure something else out."

"I can't sleep knowing that thing...that Glitch is right there. He could snap at any second."

"You are being a bit dramatic...But I understand. It makes me nervous too."

"We shouldn't talk so loud...Glitches hear everything."

Evan woke with his cheeks stained with tears, his eyes dry from crying himself silently to sleep. Jonathan lay asleep on the floor beside him, his hood falling over his face. Evan realised that he wasn't wearing his mask for once and the temptation to see what his friend really looked like made him forget about the pain of what he had overheard last night.

Reaching over the edge of the couch, he brushed the hood aside to see the soft features of his face. Evan smiled because they suited him perfectly. He leaned his head against his arm, looking down at Delirious who hadn't been there beside him when he had fallen asleep which meant he must have heard Evan's sobs and wanted to be close to him. Evan felt comforted by such an idea. Jonathan was right, they all loved him. His fear was over nothing.

"Get up everyone." Tyler's voice seemed to boom through the room, shattering the silence. His hands landed on Evan's back, shaking him as if to wake him up aggressively. "We're gonna play the Maze game today."

"M-Maze game?" Evan's eyes widened as he rolled over to look up at Tyler who smiled darkly, as if there was more to the game than what Evan thought it was. Evan took a deep breath as Tyler nodded. He had played this game before several times. He could do this. He had laughed when killing his friends in this game before. It wasn't scary. He would come back... Wouldn't he?

The maze looked exactly how Evan knew it from the game he knew as 'Murder Maze.' Of course his friends here just called it the 'Maze Game' which sounded more unsettling to Evan than the other name.

"Do we have to do this?" Evan asked, staying close to Brock and Jonathan.

"Just go with it...Tyler is doing this to test you. This game is brutal and cause you broke down over a tiny gunshot, Tyler wants to see if you are still really yourself. If not...He's gonna think you are a Glitch and nothing can stop Tyler when he's set on something." Brock explained quietly.

"Just stay with us and it'll be okay." Jonathan smiled. "And if you get hurt... Don't panic because you'll Come Back."

"What if I suffer? Like Tyler said before he shot you?" Evan asked, his nervous eyes on Tyler. "Wouldn't that make me into a Glitch?"

"It does. A Glitch's whole existence is about suffering. So if you are hurt and don't start the Come Back right away...You gotta speed up the process." Jonathan said, his serious gaze through his mask seeming to burn through Evan who nodded slowly with understanding.

"Jonathan! Why don't you be our first Chaser tonight?" Tyler suddenly said loudly from where he stood on the stairs that lead down the maze. In his hand was a large axe, its blade reflecting the neon lights from the buildings around them. Jonathan nodded, forcing a smile onto his face as he took the axe.

"This'll be fun." Daithi laughed as Jonathan moved away from the group, his smile falling once his back was turned. Evan felt vulnerable without Jonathan near him, finding himself moving even closer to Brock.

"As soon as the countdown starts, you have to run. Don't stop running, even if you lose me." Brock whispered.

"I know how to play this game." Evan said, though he wasn't sure who he was saying it to.

"Prove it to Tyler, not me. He is the one who doesn't believe you." Brock said, glancing to the other side of the stairs where Tyler, Craig, Daithi and Marcel stood, glancing occasionally at Evan and Brock. Lui stood in the middle of them, a nervous look on his face as if he could feel the tension between them.

"Are we all ready?" Jonathan laughed, the crazy tone in his voice sending chills through Evan.

"Ready." Evan called back, glancing at Tyler whose face remained expressionless.

"Ten…" Evan stumbled forward, a gentle push from Brock sent him down the stairs. He looked back over his shoulder as he began to run, finding himself stuck in the middle of Craig and Tyler. "Nine." Craig gave Evan a hard shove into the hedge, the hard branches digging into his skin. He fell back, realising that he was the last one in the group and struggling to keep up. "Eight." Evan stumbled down the path, Jonathan's voice becoming quieter the farther away he got. "Seven."

"Come on... Don't stop. We need to get away from the group. If one of them goes down, they'll come back as Chasers and we're screwed if we are near them." Brock said urgently, breaking away from the group. Evan followed him, his lungs already starting to heave for air.

"Six." Evan remembered how this game had made him nervous but in a way that he could laugh about it. It wasn't something that had made him fear for his life more with every passing second. "Five. Four."

"Come on, Ev!" Brock cried, running farther ahead. Evan was already starting to slow down as he turned the corner, suddenly losing Brock in the dark maze. His lungs burned for air, his owl mask making him feel like he was suffocating.

"Brock?"

"Three. Two."

"Brock! Where did you go?" Evan stumbled down the path, looking desperately for his friend, the only other person besides Jonathan that he could trust.

"One! Here I come!"

"Brock! Moo! Where are you?" Evan cried, his eyes welling up with fearful tears as he turned another corner, looking desperately for Brock. "B-Brock!" A sudden scream echoed through the maze followed by nervous laughter. Evan could hear running footsteps but they didn't come close to him.

The wet sound of a cough caught Evan's attention, the air suddenly feeling electric around him as he continued forward. The wet coughing sound continued, getting louder with every step he took. He turned a corner, hearing the sound of blood dripping onto the gravel. At the end of the dark dead end, a figure in a pink shirt and white shorts stood with his back to Evan, his shoulders shaking with every bloody cough. Evan could see blood pooling on the dusty path around the man.

"A-Are you okay?" Evan asked, taking a step towards him though everything in him told him to run. The man coughed again, spitting blood on to the path. The air around Evan crackled with electricity, a strange tension coming over him that made him freeze where he stood, unable to move as the man began to turn. "D-Droidd…." Evan's eyes widened, recognising Arlan's face. Then he saw his eyes glitch.

The Glitch was covered in blood that flowed from a deep wound on his shoulder and chest. Around his mouth was the blood that he had coughed up. The Glitch stared at Evan, his eyes glitching constantly like a broken screen. Evan couldn't move, couldn't stop the tears of fear falling from his eyes like the blood dripping from Arlan's wounds. The Glitch took a slow, unsteady step towards Evan, his bloodied hand reaching up for him. Evan tried to step back, to get away from the Glitch but he couldn't, stuck in one place as the Glitch got closer. Evan couldn't stop staring at his eyes, the way they seemed to pixelate and glitch suddenly. That was what everyone was waiting for his eyes to do. They expected him to be like this bloody monster, a shell of who had once been their friend. The Glitch continued to step forward, and as he got closer, the blood on his face making it difficult for Evan to recognize him as Arlan. The Glitch suddenly stopped right in front of Evan and coughed, it's dark blood splattering onto Evan's owl mask and jacket but he couldn't move to get it off. The Glitch didn't attack him, only stared at him with it's pupiless eyes. Somewhere in the maze, another scream echoed through the maze but there was no nervous laughter that followed this time.

"W-What happened to you, Arlan?" Evan whispered, taking all of his will to speak. The Glitch didn't answer him, only stared.

"Evan!" A hand suddenly curled around Evan's wrist, pulling him away from the Glitch who lunged suddenly and aggressively at Brock. Evan fell to the ground as the Glitch grabbed onto Brock with bloody hands, it's choking screams sounding deafening to Evan. Without thinking, he got up and grabbed the Glitch, pulling Arlan off Brock. He grabbed Brock's hand and they sprinted down the path, hearing the Glitch scream and give chase. "What were you doing? What were you thinking?"

"What were you thinking? It wouldn't have hurt you if you hadn't gotten close!" Evan cried.

"Why didn't it attack you?" Brock cried but Evan couldn't answer. A wail echoed through the maze that made Brock and Evan stop in their tracks. "Tyler…" The heartbroken wail came again, sending chills through Evan.

"He's Glitching!" Tyler screamed in agony. Evan started running again, turning the corner to see Tyler on the dusty path turned red with blood. In his arms was Craig, a wound similar to the Glitch's on his shoulder oozing blood. His eyes were open, and pixelating. Slowly,

not suddenly like Arlan's were. Tyler looked up at Evan with fury, tears streaming down his face. "He's Glitching!" Tyler screamed again, looking back down at Craig's eyes.

"Tyler…" Brock said softly, taking a step towards him. "We gotta leave him...Unless you want to destroy him." Silence filled the maze except for the occasional bloody cough from Arlan's Glitch that seemed to haunt the maze where Evan assumed that he became a Glitch in and had been left to lead a terrible existance.

"It's his fault." Tyler suddenly said, breaking the silence. Evan looked up to see Tyler's furious gaze burning through him, murder in his eyes.

"I didn't touch him. I was far away from him!" Evan cried as Tyler set Craig down on the bloody path. He got up, advancing slowly towards Evan who had never felt so scared in his life. He wished that Tyler had worn his pig mask so he wouldn't have been able to see the fury in his face but he had chosen to leave it. Evan struggled to breathe through his owl mask, the scent of rubber filling his lungs. "Plea-" Tyler hit Evan, the sound of breaking bone under Tyler's fist echoing in Evan's ears. He fell backwards to the dusty path, blood splattering against the inside of the mask and blurring his vision.

Tyler pinned Evan down to the path, ripping his mask off before hitting him again, his blood on his knuckles. Brock screamed at Tyler to stop, trying to pull him off Evan but Tyler pushed him off, against the hedge. Evan had never felt so much pain before, his struggle to fight back becoming weaker and weaker as Tyler hit him.

"It's your fault! It's your fault!" Tyler screamed. "You fucking Glitch! That's what you are! I'll fucking destroy you!"

"Tyler!" Jonathan's familiar voice rang in Evan's ears. Tyler looked up, getting off Evan as Jonathan ran towards them, his axe now bloody and held tight in his hands. Evan couldn't move, only lay in the dusty path as the wounds on his bruised face bled. "Tyler don't!" Jonathan yelled as Tyler made a grab for the axe, trying to pull it from his hands. Jonathan held on to it as tightly as he could but was no match against Tyler.

"T-Tyler...please…" Evan choked on his own blood, wondering if this was how Arlan felt, drowning in his own blood. Tyler ignored Jonathan and Brock's cries of protest as he raised the axe over his head. He brought it down with force on Evan.

A sickening sound of blood splattering, bone breaking and flesh ripping echoed through Evan's ears as darkness descended over him.


	4. Chapter 4

The sounds of the city echoed in Evan's ears, the neon lights glittering like the stars high above the tall buildings in the dark night. Cars drove by on the streets below him, looking small and insignificant. The occasional horn and police siren sounded painfully loud in Evan's sensitive ears. The warm wind whipped around him, pulling at his bloodied red and white coat and brought tears to his eyes. He wondered if he was actually crying because of his despair and not the cold wind that stung and nipped at his cheeks. It almost made him feel like he was trapped in a cold winter night, shivering in the snow, but the world around him wasn't as dead as the cold wind made him feel. It was alive and always would be.

The neon city is alive with monsters. Not a single human soul walked the streets. Only immortal creatures of the night with glitching eyes and hearts. There was no love in this city. Love means to cherish every moment for the next could be the end. Death doesn't exist in this world so love doesn't either. What happens to a soul that cannot die?

"Despair…" Evan whispered as if answering his own question. "I want to go home." He looked down at the street below him, several stories below. The apartment building was illuminated with harsh neon purple lights. None of this should be real. His eyes went back to the city, the neon lights glimmering as brightly as the stars above it. In the distance, the tall skyscrapers reached for the stars as if the neon lights below weren't good enough. A part of him recognized it. Another part of him felt wrong. The wind around him, the lights, the overwhelming noise, all of it felt alien to him. "I want to go home."

On the roof top beside him, his owl mask stared up at him with it's golden eyes, waiting. If he had fallen into this world, maybe he could fall out of it. The bloody owl eyes continued to stare at him, waiting. None of his friends were his friends. They wore their faces and laughed with their voices, but they were not them. He had nothing here but home had everything. The owl eyes continued to stare and wait. "I want to go home…" Evan whispered as he spread his arms. For a moment, he pretended that they were his wings that would take him far away from this nightmare.

Then he fell.

Evan awoke with a start, his dark eyes opening wide as he sat up. He struggled to catch his breath, the feeling of falling that had woken him startling him. He stared around the room with wide eyes, wishing that it was his bedroom but it wasn't. The wall of windows let in the purple neon light from outside. The room was strange to him, even more so in the dark. He suddenly let out a cry of pain, clutching his chest.

A sudden pain washed over him, the shock of it paralysing him as he fell back onto the soft bed. His chest felt like it was being ripped apart. The memories of seeing Tyler standing over him with the bloody axe came back to him as sudden as the pain did. He had brought it down several times on Evan before the pain finally stopped when he slipped into subconsciousness. At least, that was what Evan believed. That axe had ripped him apart though, he knew that. Tyler's rage was unstoppable.

Yet here he was, crying from pain and heaving for air. His chest burned, the feeling of bones cracking into place and skin pulling itself back together feeling more painful than when it had been ripped apart and broken. Evan found his voice and screamed in pain as he curled into a ball, his arms around himself as if trying to hold in all the pieces. Tyler had brought that axe down on him repeatedly, breaking him apart like glass.

Now the force of this universe was trying to glue him back together again.

He wanted to break apart again if it meant that this pain would stop. His screams ripped at his throat, his knuckles turning white as they gripped his sides. Blood oozed around his nails as they dug into his skin only to be healed again. He heard the door open, but he didn't see who came in. His eyes were closed so tightly, tears streaming down his face as he struggled for air between screams. His bones snapped together and his skin stretched, mending the scars like rips in fabric.

"Shh...It's okay... It's okay." Jonathan's arms were suddenly around Evan, pulling him closer gently. "You're Coming Back….It's all okay. Just breathe...Just breathe…"

"It hurts...It hurts so much!" Evan sobbed. He screamed again as he felt his ribs snap back into their place.

"It's okay...It's all okay…" Jonathan pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead, trying to help him through his pain as best he could. "Just breathe...Breathe…" Evan heaved for air as sweat dripped down his forehead. All he could taste was salt and blood and all he could hear was his heart beating at a terrifying pace.

After what felt like an eternity filled with pain and screams, Evan felt like he had been put back together again. He leaned against Jonathan, tears staining his blue hoodie. He couldn't move, only lay there and wait for sleep to come for him. He was too exhausted to move.

"P-Please... Don't leave me, Delirious...I'm so scared." Evan whispered. He didn't see Jonathan's look of confusion at the strange name but he smiled anyways.

"I won't leave you, Ev." Jonathan said softly, stroking his dark hair. "Now go to sleep...You'll better when you wake up." Evan nodded, his eyes drifting closed as sleep found him.

"You could have destroyed him! The pain he was in! You fucking monster!"

"I'm the monster? Me? When he's the one who made Craig into a Glitch?"

"You made him suffer! You are making Craig suffer too by letting him live! He's out there somewhere, constantly bleeding and wondering what happened to him because you couldn't destroy him!"

"Don't you fucking say that! You know I couldn't do that Craig!"

"Then you should have let someone else do it."

Evan listened to the angry voices, mostly still asleep. He decided that he didn't want to listen to them anymore and he fell back into a deep sleep.

"How long are you going to let him sleep for?"

"As long as it takes. Maybe when he wakes up...He'll be our Evan again."

"What did you say he called you, again?"

"Delirious."

"Weird. I wonder why."

Evan's eyes opened slowly, taking in the warm morning light that came in through the large windows. His eyes landed on Brock who had fallen asleep sitting at his side. He was curled up beside Evan, his head resting against his thigh. He smiled softly at the sight of seeing his friend care about him so much.

Outside, the city was glowing with a bright orange morning sky, only a few clouds floating overhead. It looked beautiful despite how alien it was to Evan. He became aware of how dry his throat was and he forced himself to get up, gently lowering Brock's head to the bed. He still wore a black T-shirt and pants, his bloody jacket folded over neatly on the dresser, his owl mask staring at him as he left the room with bloody, golden eyes.

He moved silently down the hallway into the living room where his friends were still asleep. A light had been left on in kitchen, probably by the last person who had gotten up for a snack. Evan stepped into the kitchen and froze, his eyes on the disturbing, bloody pig mask on the kitchen table that stared at him as darkly as his owl eyes did.

"You're awake…" Tyler said from where he sat beside the mask, not bothering to turn around and face Evan. "Jonathan told me that your Come Back wasn't an easy one."

"I don't know why. " Evan said, deciding that it was the right thing to say. At least it was the truth.

"Maybe because you're a Glitch." Tyler spat. Evan curled his hands into fists, narrowing his eyes at Tyler who still didn't turn to look at him.

"I'm not a Glitch. How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Till I believe you." Tyler finally turned around, glaring darkly at Evan. A wave of sadness came over him. He didn't recognize this look of anger on his friend. The Tyler he knew wasn't angry. He was loving. He's a big teddy bear. This Tyler made him nervous. He had already been 'killed' by him once and he could easily do it again.

"Wildcat...Please." Evan said, his voice breaking. He wanted him so badly to be the Tyler he knew. He wanted someone to be who he knew them to be.

"What did you just call me?" Tyler seemed confused, his eyes narrowing. He didn't know what that name meant. It didn't exist in this world just like death didn't exist.

"N-Nothing. Tyler, I'm me. I'm Evan. I'm the Evan I have always been. The fall must have messed up my head. That's all. Glitches aren't supposed to just stand there and talk right? I just got hurt. I'm not a Glitch." Evan struggled to save himself. "Please. I need you." Tyler looked up at him with wide eyes, unsure of what to say. Evan stammered, trying to change what he had said but he couldn't. He needed his Tyler back as much as he needed his Evan back. "I'm sorry about Craig. I wish that I could have done something to save him. Though I might not really remember what Glitches are and what they do, I still feel scared of them and I feel scared that you would think I am one of them. I'm your friend, Tyler. I'll always be. Nothing you do or say will change that." Evan didn't know why he was still talking. Tyler remained unmoved, watching Evan from where he sat with the empty gaze of his bloody pig mask. "I want things to make sense as much as you do. I want to things to be okay. I want to understand. Please help me understand, Tyler. I forgive you for trying to...to...get rid of me. I probably would have done the same." Evan said, struggling for words. Tyler stood up suddenly, making Evan feel like he said the wrong thing. "I-I meant...I didn't meant that I would actually...but…"

"Shut up." Tyler's arms were suddenly around Evan, pulling him closer. Evan tensed, thinking that he would break his neck but instead of pain, warmth surrounded him as Tyler hugged him. Evan blinked, not sure of what to do except to hug him back. "You sound more like yourself. Stop being such a bitch. It doesn't suit you." Tyler said quietly, his chin on top of Evan's head who nodded slowly. "You should throw me over a railing." Evan wanted to say that he could never do such a thing but instead he laughed.

The morning sun was getting brighter over the neon city. The sounds of the city waking up and going about the day got louder, echoing in Evan's ears. He stood on the balcony, looking down at the street below him and watched the cars and people go by. The purple lights that at night illuminated the apartment building had turned off and now the windows reflected the morning light. His eyes turned upwards to the roof of the building above him where he had stood in his dream and where he had fallen from. He wondered if maybe that was how he would get home.

He fell into this world. Maybe he had to fall to get out.

"You okay?' Lui was suddenly beside Evan, a small smile on his face. Evan looked at him, surprised before nodding. Lui had been the only one to stay neutral this whole time and he loved him for it. He didn't want him to put himself out there and get hurt because of him. He was just simply there for him and that was all Evan needed.

"Y-Yeah…" Evan smiled, looking back out over the city. A warm breeze played with Evan's hair and pulled at his jacket.

"Tyler told me about what you said. I'm surprised that you forgave him for what he did. That maze has never seen so much blood before." Lui looked sick. "I wouldn't have forgiven him."

"Does he believe me?" Evan asked softly, not wanting to talk about blood, his blood, anymore.

"I think...More than he did before. He's been in denial since you fell. He cares about you a lot and the thought of you becoming a Glitch upsets him as much as Craig becoming one did. But his rage makes him kinda fucked up and when Craig Glitched…He only had you to blame. You, who had been saying weird things and acting not like yourself. You do know that Glitch Hunters consider those warning signs, right? They say people become Glitches in two ways. Either a traumatic death or over time...as that person begins to despair…" Lui explained, watching Evan closely.

"Dro...Arlan was in that maze." Evan said, wanting to get the suspicion off him. Lui's eyes widened, stareing at him with disbelief.

"He is still there…" Lui whispered.

"W-What happened to him?" Evan asked, not sure if it was the right thing to do. Lui didn't answer, only stared at him as if trying to figure out if he was serious or not. When Evan didn't say that he remembered, Lui sighed.

"You happened. We were at the maze...not even playing that game...just fucking around. You had the axe...the same one that Tyler used to force you into a Come Back. Arlan had a said a joke...and as a joke in return, you nearly cut him in half. You laughed as you did it too, your owl mask and jacket drenched in blood. We laughed too because you shocked us. We never thought that you could have so much strength before...Then his eyes started Glitching and you realised what you had done…" Lui didn't look at Evan who felt a wave of self hatred wash over him. He wanted to drown in it. "I haven't forgiven you for that and I don't think I ever will."


	5. Chapter 5

The sun had been warm, the palm trees swaying in the warm breeze. Tyler had sat on the warm sand, watching the ocean waves hit the shore. The smell of marijuana drifted around him in a cloud of smoke. Evan laid on the sand beside him, his red and white jacket used pillow under his head. Beside him, Craig took a drink from his beer. The sun was starting to dip towards the horizon, the sky ablaze in pinks, oranges and soft blues.

"Have you thought about what it really feels like to be a Glitch?" Craig had asked, glancing at Tyler and Evan.

"I try not to." Evan said quietly.

"Same." Tyler had nodded. "Being a Glitch means it's over. The party is done and everyone can go home. I don't want to think about it till I'm a Glitch."

"I think that Glitches are still there in some way. They still bleed. They have motives. I don't think the 'party' is over when you become a Glitch." Craig had said, sinking his hand into the sand. Tyler watched his blunt burn, smoke drifting up from the end. He took a drag, wishing that Craig hadn't brought up Glitches. "Maybe they aren't that different from us."

"How high are you?" Tyler had laughed, blowing smoke out of his mouth. "We aren't fucking monsters."

"We all saw what Evan did to Arlan! That's pretty monstrous if you ask me." Craig had muttered, finishing his beer.

"Shut the fuck up!" Tyler had spat. "Don't you dare say that. It was an accident. He didn't know that Arlan would Glitch. We never know when that shit is gonna happen!"

"Yeah come on, Craig. I never trashed you when 'accidentally' pushed that kid off the pier and he Glitched." Evan snapped as he sat up, his eyes had narrowed darkly. "Fuck off." He reached for Tyler's blunt, smoke swirling around him. Craig had sighed, knowing there was no point in trying to fight them. Nothing was worse than when Tyler and Evan were stubbornly against something together.

Tyler had watched Evan lay back down, looking up at the bright sky with his dark eyes. He had seemed sad, a look in his eyes that seemed empty, almost hopeless. Tyler refused to believe that Evan was starting to despair. He looked back at the waves, watching them hit the shore.

"Aren't you scared though? Of becoming a Glitch?" Craig had asked and Tyler had groaned with annoyance.

"Of course I am! Can we stop talking about this though? Fucking christ." Tyler sighed.

"When I become a Glitch…" Evan had said softly, his eyes on the sky above him. "Don't let me suffer."

Now, as the sun started to go down, the sky was full of colour. All pinks, oranges, purples and blues. It was as bright and neon as the city. Helicopters flew overhead, and police sirens sounded in the distance. The group of boys rode their bicycles down the busy street. Their jackets fluttered in the warm wind,the animal eyes of their masks taking in the world around them.

Music drifted from passing cars and spilled from clubs and restaurants that flowed smoothly like the brightly coloured drinks they served. People on the streets paused their conversation to watch the animal boys go past before resuming their conversation again. The sight wasn't unusual to them. Nothing was unusual in this neon city where there were was nothing to lose.

Evan felt like nothing was wrong. Though the world was still strange to him and nothing seemed to make sense, he told himself that it was just his fall that he no longer remembered anything. No one could have gotten away from that without some lasting damage.

He believed Jonathan and Brock and Tyler and Lui and Daithi and Marcel and he should have believed Craig before it was too late. He believed them now about this world where death did not exist. Though there were times late at night where he would lie awake and wonder about those other memories, the ones where he instead of living it, he would play a game like this and his friends were all so far away and he could not live forever. They seemed so odd compared to the other memories of neon lights and blood that were coming back to him more and more with every passing day. He wanted those memories, of laughter, freedom and sunshine to be real more than the ones spent in a dark office in front of a screen.

As his bike took him down the street, he took his hands off the handle bars and believed that he could fly. The wind whipped around him, pulling at his red and white jacket and threatened to pull at his balance too.

He didn't care.

He could do anything in this world. Anything he dreamed of could be possible.

"Oh fuck listen to it roar!"

"You mean I can drive it?"

"It's your car, of course you can drive it! Get in bitch."

Jonathan threw the keys over the black, polished roof of the Lamborghini. Evan caught them, staring at them with wide eyes. A little owl key chain looked up at Evan with bright, yellow eyes. A strange part of him was shocked. That part had no memories of a beautiful car. Another part did. Memories of the black car, and broken glass danced through his mind. He got into the car, still unsure if he really was able to drive it. Evan gripped the wheel, his eyes wide as that still shocked and scared part of him took in the dark leather interior of the car.

"Is something wrong?" Jonathan asked when he saw Evan's wide eyed stare. He shook his head, trying to forget about the excitement that bubbled inside of him. He shook his head, leaning back in his seat.

"It just feels like the first time in this car." Evan said softly.

"Then let's take her for a spin!" Jonathan laughed, closing his door. In his lap, the disturbingly yellow eyes of his raccoon mask stared at Evan as he took his owl mask off. He revved the engine and they both giggled like little boys. Evan looked at Jonathan who smiled brightly, his blue hood pulled over his head and shadowed his bright eyes.

The car backed out of the bright, white garage and onto the neon lit street. Purple lights reflected off the black surface of the car as the tyres squealed on the pavement, dark marks left where it had just been as it sped down the street, swerving through traffic.

"Should I slow down? The cops are gonna be on us!" Evan laughed but he didn't slow down. He didn't want to. The wind whipped through the open window, pulling at his hair and drowning out the music from the radio.

"Fuck no! Just don't fucking crash it!" Jonathan laughed. Evan smiled and sped up.

Evan had never felt so free before. He had never felt so wild before. He never wanted to wake up. Jonathan leaned out his window, his blue hoodie rippling in the wind like a furious river of water, his free hand waving in the wind as neon lights flashed around them.

"Pinch yourself...and you'll wake up." The words flashed in Evan's mind with an urgency that he should listen to them but he didn't.

Evan didn't want to wake up anymore.

The black sports car stopped by the pier, the bright lights reflecting over the water. Evan and Jonathan got out, their masks over their faces. Evan knew they might seem out of place, but he remembered why they wore them and he smiled under the feathered rubber. He felt like he had a family.

"Come on! Let's get some popcorn!" Jonathan pulled Evan towards the pier, the bright neon lights almost blinding him. He walked beside Jonathan along the pier, taking in everything. He faintly remembered being here before, remembered seeing blood reflecting the bright colourful lights and hearing screaming and laughing. He looked away from the wood of the pier to Jonathan who was clearly smiling under his mask, glad to be with the Evan that he knew so well.

As Jonathan got in line for some popcorn, Evan found himself wandering away, towards the arcade. Bright, neon lights flashed, music played and the sounds of games rang in his ears. People laughed and moved around him as he walked through the crowd past the bright arcade games.

By one of the games, a girl with hair so blonde it seemed to reflect the colours of the neon lights around her. She seemed familiar to Evan in many different ways, both parts of him knowing her. She looked up at him green eyes lined in black and sparkles and smiled.

"There's my owl." Was all she said.

"Where the fuck were you?" Jonathan laughed when Evan returned to the car. Jonathan sat on the hood of the car, his mask beside him and his hood over his face. In his hand was a bag of caramel popcorn, the sounds made when Jonathan crunched down on them heard faintly over the music coming from the pier. Evan shrugged as he pulled his mask off, a pink kiss mark pressed to his cheek. Jonathan smiled, offering the popcorn to Evan who took a hand full.

"Get off my car." Evan laughed.

The bright, warm blue sky seemed endless. The streets were busy during the daytime with people. Families with their children at the beach and those who worked sitting at five star restaurant patios in their designer suits discussing the next deal.

Evan wondered if they could die. He wondered if they had had an accident and they came back and what that must have felt like for them. He realised that he had never seen an ambulance on the streets of Los Santos. Only police cars.

He followed his friends as they biked down the path beside the beach, sweat dripping down their faces under their masks. Tyler seemed to be okay with Craig gone but Evan had a feeling that he was acting. He lead the pack, his shoulders high and his dark, shadow filled pig eyes watched the city around him for the next challenge. For the next thing that might turn him into a Glitch.

"Stay back!"

"Stop it!"

"Get away from him!"

Screams rose up from the street. A mother pulled her son away from the bloody hands of a Glitch and ran. The Glitch screamed, the deafening in Evan's ears. The air felt heavy and electric around Evan, his head throbbing with the pain of the fall and the electricity. People screamed and ran, the sounds of sirens becoming louder. People pushed past the group of animal boys, a sudden shove from a taller man sending Evan sprawling to the sandy path when he wouldn't move. His head hit the pavement and the world spun harshly around him. All he could hear was screaming and his friend's yelling around him.

The sirens got louder.

Hands were suddenly pulling Evan back to his feet. Brock held onto his wrist tightly, looking back at the Glitch as Tyler got off his bike, looking for something he could use as a weapon.

The sirens got louder.

Evan could no longer hear the screams over the wail of the sirens. He looked at Brock with wide eyes, wanting to pull Tyler back, away from the Glitch. Though it wasn't Craig, he didn't have to destroy that Glitch. He wasn't responsible for it.

The sirens got louder.

A sudden gunshot crackled through the air. Evan remembered a spilled milkshake on the pavement and the buzz of neon lights. Tyler stumbled backwards.

Then she was there, her hair so blonde it seemed to reflect the warm sunlight.

And there was a gun in her hand.

She raised it, firing at the Glitch's head. Blood splattered and people screamed. The Glitch fell to the pavement and started to get back up again. Suddenly, Cartoonz was there, a sharp metal object in his hand that he brought down in the Glitch's skull. Evan could hear the crunch of bone and splatter of blood and flesh. No one else seemed to hear it.

The Glitch didn't get back up.

"I had that fucking Glitch! I could have taken him! We didn't need you fucking hunters."

"With what weapons? Were you going to destroy that Glitch with a bike?"

"Sydney."

The golden girl turned back to Luke who seemed to tower over all of them. Blood dripped from his hands. "Thank you for wanting to help." Luke said awkwardly. Evan knew he was just being polite. He would have said the same thing as Sydney. "But you should leave this stuff to people who can actually handle it."

"Excuse me?" Marcel snapped. Daithi pulled him back.

"You guys aren't doing anything good with your existences. You just fuck around and try to turn each other in to Glitches that we are going to have to deal with. We don't need your help." Luke started to walk away, clearly done with the group of animal boys. Sydney stayed, her black lined eyes on Evan.

"You guys should be careful...There is a new Glitch in this city that is more powerful than any of us hunters have ever seen. It can hide it's identity as a Glitch so it's impossible to find. Be careful." Sydney warned before hurrying to catch up with her partner.

Evan pretended that he didn't notice his friends' suspicious glances.


	6. Chapter 6

Music played from the stereo. The warm Californian wind came in through the open window, playing with Evan's hair. The black car sped down the highway followed by a similar black sports car. Evan didn't know where he was going but he didn't want to be in the city. He didn't want to be near any Glitches.

"How could a Glitch do that? Hide it's identity? Is that even possible?"

"The air gets all...crackly when Glitches are around. It'd be hard to hide that."

"You said that they were getting smarter."

His friends' worried voices still echoed in his ears. No one had slept well, watching the city through their windows as if they were waiting for this powerful Glitch to bring it all down around them with one quick explosion.

"It's not Evan."

"He could be playing the part well, Jon."

"It's not Evan."

Evan was playing a part. He was playing the role of the Evan they all wanted him to be. He had convinced himself that he was that Evan so much, that he remembered things he knew he shouldn't be able to. He had memories of things he had never done. He remembered an axe and blood and he remembered drugs and sunsets on the beach. He had never done those things but the Evan they wanted him to be did.

Evan pulled over the sports car. He came to a stop on the dusty side of the highway, the engine still rumbling. He struggled to breathe, suddenly feeling sick as he thought about the memories of things that he had never done before.

"Evan?" Jonathan looked at him with concern as the other car that had been following them with Tyler and Lui inside pulled over in front of them. "What's wrong?" Evan didn't answer. Instead he got out of the car and fell to his knees as he threw up onto the dirt. The flash images of blood and his friends' smiles wouldn't stop. He had never felt so sick, so disgusted with this person he was supposed to be. He threw up everything that had been in his stomach, leaving him weak and shaky.

"Feeling a bit rough, Ev?"

"Let him be, Tyler."

"Are you nervous about something, Ev?"

"I said let him be!"

Jonathan pushed Tyler aggressively. Evan tried to will himself to stop feeling so sick. Tyler was starting to disbelieve him. He didn't want a repeat of what happened in the maze. The pain was something that he never wanted to feel ever again.

"Don't fucking push me."

"Then leave Evan alone! He's been stressed out lately! You know that!"

"Are you defending a Glitch?"

"He isn't a Glitch! How many fucking times do we have to tell you?"

Jonathan pushed Tyler again. Evan wanted to stop them. He wanted to tell Tyler that he wasn't a Glitch, that he was the Evan that he wanted him to be. He leaned his hand against the side of the car, pushing himself back to his feet shakily. Cars sped past them on the highway which only made Evan feel dizzy as he turned to his friends.

"Till I fucking believe it!"

"I thought you did believe him! He comes back fine just like you and me!"

"Comes back, eh?"

"G-guys…" Evan stammered, his head throbbing. Everything was too loud.

"Does he come back like this?"

Tyler suddenly shoved Jonathan with more force than Evan thought he had in him. Jonathan stumbled backwards onto the road, into oncoming traffic. The sound of a horn defended Evan who could only watch as Jonathan was hit by a speeding car. He hit the glass windshield that cracked under him and rolled over the top before landing with a sickening thud on the road, the other cars coming to a stop suddenly. Blood oozed onto the hot, sun warmed pavement. Evan had never felt so sick.

The water had become pink with blood. Bits of dirt and flesh floated in the lukewarm water that filled the bowl. Evan sat beside Jonathan on the bed, cleaning the blood from his head.

"The fuck is wrong with you?"

"He knows better than to fucking shove me around."

Evan tried not to think about what had happened but there was nothing else to think about. The sound of bone cracking had echoed in Evan's ears as Lui had punched Tyler hard across the face, blood splattering from his nose to the dusty path. Evan faintly remembered wondering if Lui would defend him or not. He didn't have time to ask though for he had turned and stumbled towards Jonathan. He knew he'd be okay but the sight of blood and bruises darker than dark almost made him wail with grief. Evan had forced himself to pull Jonathan's limp body back into his car and forced himself to drive back to the apartment, leaving Tyler and Lui to fight among themselves.

Now he sat beside Jonathan and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Waited for him to come back. He couldn't do this without him. Jonathan and Brock fought for him. Tyler would destroy him if Jonathan was gone forever.

Evan closed his eyes, still feeling sick and exhausted. He wanted to sleep safely and soundly. He leaned his head against Jonathan chest, listening for a heartbeat or waiting to feel his chest rise when air filled his lungs but there was nothing.

"How can you live like this? How can you live with them? You must love all of us...but we never treat you with love. Why do you love us, Jon?" Evan whispered. He didn't get an answer. "Please come back to me. I can't live like this…"

"Yes you can…" Air filled Jonathan's lungs as his chest rose and his eyes fluttered open. He sat up, looking at Evan who leaned his head against his chest that was no longer bruised and broken. "You can't despair."

"We just push each other around and hope we don't push too hard! Luke is right...we don't aren't doing anything good with our existence." Evan closed his eyes, wishing to be back in his office chair with nothing to worry about but his next video.

"You said that exact same thing before." Jonathan said quietly. Evan looked up at him, fighting the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes. "You sound so much like Brian did before he...he...I couldn't let you keep saying those things. I couldn't let you believe those things. I told you that we do the things we do because we have freedom. We have no limitations. I love you now, in this moment because in the next moment, you could become a Glitch and I won't love you then. We are enjoying our existence and everything this world has to offer before it's all taken away. Yes, it does turn us into Glitches faster but we have a good life. That's what I told you. Then you went out with Tyler and Marcel and came back a different person after your fall...You can't despair." He pulled Evan closer. Evan felt Jonathan's tears fall onto his shoulder.

"I won't…" For the first time, Evan felt safe. Exhaustion was catching up to him and all he wanted was to sleep. Jonathan held onto him tightly with no sign of letting go.

So he fell asleep.

Music could be heard from the club blocks away. It poured out of the doors with laughter and shouting. Neon lights flashed and drinks swirled in people's hands as they moved through the club.

Evan had been to clubs before but there was something about this one that made it all overwhelming to him. The air felt electric, the way it felt when Glitches were around. It seemed to make the club goers louder and eager to drink and dance. He sat beside Brock and Lui, his strong drink held tight in his hand. They sat on a row of purple couches on a raised platform where other club goers lounged and talked with their friends, new and old. From where Evan sat, he could see over the whole club. He couldn't count how many people were there, dancing and drinking and having a good time like it was the last night of their lives.

"Funny seeing you guys here. I thought you would be out running each other over with your Lamborghinis or something." Luke said as he walked up to them, Sydney following with a pink drink in her hand. She gave a small smile to Evan.

"Fuck off, Luke." Lui said before Tyler could snap. "We're just having a good time like everyone else." Luke glanced at Sydney with a knowing look.

"Luke no...Not tonight."

"Have you guys heard about what goes on downstairs?"

"No...What?"

"The guys downstairs capture Glitches. They don't destroy them. They just bring them to this club and then people pay them to fight and destroy the Glitches they catch. Of course there is betting too. They put tiny little punks against big bloody Glitches sometimes. It's quite a show." Luke smiled. "If you are interested."

Evan glanced at the others, hoping that they wouldn't like the idea. Luke was trying to challenge them, trying to get them hurt.

"Why not...We aren't doing anything better." Tyler said, taking Luke's challenge. Evan felt sick again and downed his drink.

"Come on, Tyler. He's gonna make us fight a Glitch. We can't do that!"

"Yes we can. We've fought each other and that's pretty close to the real fucking thing."

"Listen to me! If you want this to be some other way to test Evan to make sure that it's really him, it won't work! Evan is Evan. Even I believe him."

Evan was grateful for Lui and how neutral he had been this whole time. He hoped it would be enough to sway Tyler.

"Don't be such a bitch, Lui." Tyler got up, following Luke through the crowded club. The others had no choice but to follow. When one of them wanted to do something, the others always followed. It had always been that way. Evan stayed close to Brock and Jonathan who gave him reassuring smiles. He had to believe that they wouldn't let anything happen to him. The music pounded in his ears and his head throbbed.

Luke nodded to a tall man standing by a black painted door that opened onto a set of rickety wooden stairs. More noise than Evan had ever heard in his life overwhelmed him. Music, shouting and screaming made his head throb in agony. He swore that he could even hear the sound of hearts beating and the heavy breaths of someone in distress. He could hear a chainlink fence rattling aggressively, the sound of blood dripping and a Glitch screaming.

Through the crowd, Evan could see a fighting ring on a raised platform surrounded by a bloody chain link fence. People of all kinds surrounded the fence, yelling and screaming, grabbing at the fence and shaking it. Inside the ring, a Glitch shrieked as it laid on the blood covered floor. A young man covered in blood egged on the cheering crowd before turning and continued to beat the Glitch which shrieked and tried to claw at the man. Evan felt sick, turning to go back upstairs but Daithi grabbed him and spun him back around. Blood dripped from the ring.

The crowd cheered suddenly as the Glitch stopped screaming, laying destroyed on the ring floor in a mangled mess. The young man got back to his feet, a victorious look on his face. He left the ring, splattering blood onto the watchers who seemed to enjoy that just as much as watching it. Evan felt sick, looking at Brock with wide eyes.

"B-Brock...I can't watch…"

"Who will be our next fighter? Who will it be?!" A loud voice called out. The crowd seemed to push at each other, wanting their friend to do it next or those who wanted to do it shifted nervously. A strong hand suddenly grabbed the back of Evan's jacket, pulling him forwards towards the bloody ring.

"Tyler stop!"

"No don't do this!"

"Leave him alone!"

Tyler threw Evan down onto the bloody floor as he opened the gate. Blood splashed around him like he had just been thrown into a pool. He spat blood out of his mouth, looking up as the destroyed Glitch was dragged from the ring to make room for a new looked back at Tyler and his friends as the gate slammed shut before he could get to his feet. He scrambled to his feet, already soaked in blood. He grabbed at the fence, tears streaming down his face.

"Get me out! Get me out! Jonathan! Brock! Help me! Get me out!" Evan screamed, shaking the fence. No one moved to open the gate, only laughed and cheered more. He could see people placing bets, laughing at Evan who continued scream and cry. "Get me out! Please!"

The cheering got louder and the feeling of electricity ran through him. Evan fought the urge not to be sick again as he turned slowly. A tall Glitch staggered into the ring, it's glitching eye empty of life.

The Glitch was missing half of it's head.

Blood dripped from it's broken skull, bits of flesh occasionally falling to the floor. The Glitch stopped in the middle of the ring and stared at Evan who stared back with wide eyes. The crowd cheered, waiting impatiently for the Glitch to rip Evan apart. The Glitch didn't lunge forward like the others had done. It just simple stared.

Evan could hardly breathe.

"Destroy that Glitch!" Tyler was suddenly on the other side of the fence. "You destroy that Glitch or I'm gonna destroy you." The Glitch suddenly lunged, wanting to attack Tyler on the other side of the fence. Evan ducked out of the way, falling to the blood soaked floor. The Glitch stopped when it saw the fence and looked down at Evan, it's glitching eye widening. Evan realised that like Arlan, the Glitch wasn't going to attack him but it had to if he was going to get out of this nightmare. He got to his feet, struggling to breathe from the fear. He took a deep breath before hitting the Glitch, flesh squishing under his fist and blood splattering onto his face. The Glitch screamed, turning suddenly to Evan and screamed again as if he had betrayed the Glitch. "Destroy that fucking Glitch!"

"Pinch yourself and you'll wake up." Evan remembered the words crackling through his headphones. He reached for his left wrist, pinching himself as hard as he could. He wished for the cheering to stop and wished for the feeling of blood soaking through his clothes to stop.

Nothing stopped. It only got louder.

The Glitch lunged at Evan, furious and screaming. He fell back onto the bloody floor, struggling to get the Glitch off. He screamed in pain as it's sharp nails dug into his wrist and cut it open, his hot blood spilling onto the already bloody floor.

"Stop it! That thing is going to Glitch him!"

"Get him out! Please!"

"Destroy that fucking Glitch, Evan!"

"I can't do this…" Evan stammered, struggling under the Glitch that continued to claw at him and scream in his ears. He couldn't hear anything but screaming. "I can't do this…" He could play a challenging video game and outsmart his friends. He could push himself to stay up all night to make the best video. He could not fight a monster for his life. But another part of him, the one with memories of neon lights and blood, could. Something seemed to take over Evan. He rolled, forcing the Glitch to the bloody floor.

He didn't feel in control of his movements.

He hit the Glitch repeatedly, blood splattering onto the floor, fence and his face. The Glitch screamed, trying to get to Evan off. He hit the Glitch again, feeling bone shatter in the Glitch's skull. He grabbed a handful of the Glitch's flesh and pulled, throwing the handful of brain and flesh onto the floor. The Glitch screamed again in agony. Evan got to his feet and brought his right foot down on the Glitch's skull with all his weight, over and over. He stomped on the Glitch's head until there was nothing left but flesh and bits of bones. The Glitch stopped screaming but the crowd continued. They cheered for Evan as he stumbled back, suddenly feeling back in control of himself. A feeling of sickness washed over him and he fought the urge to throw up, disgusted by what he had just done.

The gate opened but Evan was hardly aware of it. Blood dripped down his face and soaked through his clothes. Hands were on him, pulling him out of the ring and back into the crowd.

"That's my boy!"

"Come on, Ev! Imma buy you a drink!"

Evan forced a smile, wiping blood off his face and nodded, dimly aware of the world around him as he was lead back up the stairs and into the bright, neon world of the club.

Cigarette smoke floated through the cool night air. Music and voices could be heard from outside the club. Daithi and Marcel leaned against the wall, watching the neon lights flicker and buzz. They had been shocked to see Evan go from screaming and crying, begging to be let out of the cage to stomping on the Glitch's head till there was nothing left. He had seemed dazed as they brought him back into the club, celebrating his win. He didn't speak unless spoken to, his eyes clouded over. He looked pale and sick. He wanted air but Tyler wouldn't let him leave his side. Daithi and Marcel had left to have a smoke. They stood in silence, both of them wanting to ask the other if they thought that Evan was a Glitch but couldn't find the words.

The sudden sound of tyres screeching caught their attention. A black BMW sped around the corner, the back end hitting a pole in a small explosion of sparks. It came to a sudden stop near Daithi and Marcel who watched the young, drunk driver get out of the car and stumble into the club. Gasoline dripped from the broken pipe.

"Have you ever thought about how disturbing our existence is?" Daithi asked as Marcel took a drag from his cigarette.

"Of course I have...Every day since Brian jumped."

"That wasn't your fault."

"It was our fault. We pushed him too hard... I hope that we haven't pushed Evan too hard."

"We haven't. Evan is Evan...You saw what he did to that Glitch."

"I know that." Marcel threw his cigarette still burning to the gasoline soaked pavement.

"We aren't going to become Glitches any time soon so don't worry abo-"

The sudden explosion ripped through the parking lot and into the building, blowing out windows and set fire to everything in it's path.


	7. Chapter 7

Everything was burning.

Smoke hung heavy over the club.

People were screaming.

Screaming in pain.

Screaming with grief.

People were turning into Glitches.

Evan couldn't move. Smoke filled his lungs and he coughed and coughed. Smoke was the only thing that filled his was stuck under something, unable to move or cry for help. He wouldn't have been heard anyways for the screaming and the crackling of fire was overwhelming. He choked on the smoke, his eyes spilling uncontrollably with tears.

He turned his head, seeing a man who had been sitting with them. He was stuck under fallen cement. His eyes glitched as he reached with claw like hands towards Evan. Evan struggled to get away, fear and adrenaline running through him as he tried to get out from under fallen debris. His hand curled around the neck of a broken bottle as the Glitch grabbed onto his arm, clawing at his jacket and trying to get at his skin. Evan rolled and stabbed the sharp shard of glass into the Glitch's skull, blood spurting around the glass. The Glitch screamed as Evan pulled the glass out and stabbed it again and again and again until the screams faded away.

"Evan…" Through the smoke, Marcel was suddenly there. He pulled debris off him, glancing nervously at the destroyed Glitch beside him and the bloody broken bottle held tight in Evan's hand. His head was bleeding from a wound on his head. He could have stayed outside, but he had to find his friends even if it was the last thing he'd ever do. He seemed to be struggling to stay awake, the pain from the wound on his head getting to him. "We have…" He trailed off, coughing violently. "Have to get out…" He grabbed onto Evan's free hand, pulling him to his feet unsteadily. He turned, pulling Evan towards the way out. "We have to get out...We have to-"

Hot blood splattered onto Evan's face as Marcel's throat was slit suddenly. He stared with wide eyes as he fell at the feet of the Glitch in front of him. Evan staggered back, not wanting to look at the Glitch. Brock stumbled towards Evan, blood dripping from his claw like hands. His head had been crushed from falling debris. Even through the all the blood, Evan could recognize Brock anywhere.

His eyes glitched violently.

"Brock no...Please...I need you…" Evan stammered. His eyes watered through the smoke and the heat made him sweat. Fear paralyzed him. Brock wasn't going to attack Evan. He knew that. The Glitches didn't want to attack him.

But he couldn't let Brock exist like this.

"I'm so sorry…" Evan whispered, holding the broken bottle tighter as Brock stepped closer towards him, stumbling over Marcel's body. His eyes were also starting to glitch.

Around Evan, Glitches stumbled through the debris, some with faces that Evan recognized, some he didn't. He looked desperately for Jonathan or Tyler or Sydney, for anyone who could stop him from destroying Brock who kept staggering towards him, his once happy, lifeful eyes now empty and glitching.

Brock was gone and all that remained an empty, violent shell that wore his face.

Evan took a deep breath and swung the bottle, the glass cutting open Brock's face. Blood oozed from the cut, dripping onto his torn shirt and the burnt floor. The Glitch screamed in anguish, as if it had been betrayed and stared at Evan with wide, glitching eyes. Brock lunged towards him, his claw like hands grabbing onto his arm and pulled open his flesh. Evan panicked and stabbed the broken bottle through Brock's eye, blood splattering onto Evan's face. The Glitch screamed in agony, clawing blindly at Evan. No one could hear the screams over the fire and the others turning into Glitches.

Evan stabbed the Glitch again and again and again and again and again. Brock dropped to the floor and didn't get back up again.

Evan didn't have time to breathe for Marcel had gotten back up, his wide eyes glitching wildly. Evan wailed, tears streaming down his face as he stabbed Marcel over and over and over.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Evan wailed, blood dripping from his hands. "I'm sorry…" Tears fell from his eyes as he dropped the bottle. He was surrounded by Glitches. He stared, looking for anyone else in the wreckage who might still be living. The smoke hurt his head and the heat was starting to become unbearable. Evan wondered if he could just let the fire take him and turn him into a burned Glitch like other others. Their skin was blackened and peeling, blood dripping from the third degree burns. He had to get out of this hell before it consumed him too.

Taking one last look at Brock and Marcel's burned bodies, he turned, bending to pick up a metal bar that had fallen from the rafters. It burned his hands but it didn't matter.

Nothing matters when you can't die.

He curled his hands around the metal as he swung it at the nearest Glitch, it's skull shattering under the force. Another hit brought it to the ground. He spun, dodging a Glitch that was screaming at him in anger. He swung at another Glitch, the burning pole catching the Glitch under the jaw, the force ripping it's flesh open as it's head shot back.

"Evan!" A scream echoed over the screeches of the Glitches and the fires burning around him. He turned, seeing the girl with hair so blonde, it looked red as it reflected the glow of the fire. Her eyes suddenly widened and claw like hands dug into Evan's chest as arms wrapped around his neck. He struggled against the Glitch, unable to get away from it as it sank it's teeth into his neck. He screamed in pain as the Glitch tore at his flesh. A sudden gunshot deafened Evan, the Glitch flying off Evan in a spurt of hot blood. Sydney grabbed onto Evan's arm, pressing her hand to his neck to stop the bleeding. "Why aren't you Glitching…?" She stammered, looking from the wound to his eyes.

"I-I...I don't know."

"Let's get out of here." She shook her head, leading him towards the closest way out. She would fire her gun at the Glitches that tried to come near them, the sound hurting Evan's head. He held his metal, bloody bar tightly in his hands despite how much it burned.

Fresh air filled Evan's lungs. He suddenly stumbled and fell, landing on burned pavement. The cool night air surrounded him, and he drank it in.

"How many Glitches are still in there?"

"Too many."

"Let the place burn and take those monsters with it."

"How did it happen? Why did so many people Glitch?"

"It shouldn't be possible."

"It's almost like another Glitch turned them all into Glitches…"

"Evan!" Jonathan was suddenly there, his arms around Evan tightly. "I'm so glad that you are okay...I thought you were a Glitch...I thought you were gone…" He sobbed, shaking Evan who couldn't move. Tears fell silently from his face. "Evan...Your hands." Jonathan reached to take the bar away from Evan but recoiled from the scorching heat of it. "Let go! Let it go, Evan." Jonathan said softly. Slowly, Evan let the bar drop from his burned hands with a metallic clang to the pavement. The noise hurt Evan's head.

"Where is Brock? And Marcel? Where are they?" Tyler cried, the side of his face cut open and oozing blood. Lui sat beside Daithi on the pavement, both of them bloody and shocked from their Come Back. They struggled to remember what had happened.

"They're gone…" Evan stammered.

"What?"

"I had to destroy them...I couldn't let them exist like that..If I let them continue to exist as Glitches...That would have been the cruelest thing I could have ever done…" Evan cried. He looked up at Jonathan, grief contorting his face as he began to sob uncontrollably. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault...You did the right thing."

"Did I?"

The city passed by in a neon haze. A blur that Evan begged would stop existing. He leaned his head against the car window, listening to the engine as Jonathan drove in silence. No music came from the radio.

"Do you think…" Jonathan started to say after a while but stopped himself and thought more about what he wanted to say. "Do you think that there was a chance that Brock could have survived?"

"No."

"Oh…Do you remember Brian..and his despair? That many people couldn't be despairing right? They couldn't have become Glitches so easily."

Evan closed his eyes. He hated neon. He hated noise.

"He could have let them live. Brock and Marcel didn't deserve to be destroyed like that."

"They were Glitches, Tyler."

"They were still them...They were still in there."

"No they weren't. Evan knew that. You remember what he said about how he doesn't want to suffer when he becomes a Glitch? He doesn't want any of us to suffer either."

"We are still suffering. We are always going to suffer and then we are going to become Glitches and continue to suffer."

"Shut up, Lui! You sound like Brian!"

Evan laid on the red couch, staring back at the owl mask on the table across from him that stared back with it's bright yellow eyes. Evan wondered what that mask had seen. He wondered if it had seen the memories that kept popping into his mind. Images of doing things that he knew he didn't do haunted him. He wished that the memories of that night, of the fire, the burning flesh and his friend's glitching eyes, were things that he had never witnessed either. He wondered if the owl's yellow eyes had seen what happened to Brian.

"What happened...happened." Jonathan sat across the room by the window, his arms wrapped around himself as if trying to comfort himself. "None of us would have let them continue as Glitches. We love them. That's why they had to be destroyed."

"Shut up!" Tyler cried suddenly, the sound of glass breaking making Evan jump. He sat up, looking to the kitchen where the glass that had been held tightly in Tyler's hand finally shattered. "They shouldn't have become Glitches. They had more time."

"We never know when we're going to Glitch, Tyler. How do you know that they had more time?" Lui demanded, glass crunching under his red shoes. Tyler couldn't answer him. "We never know…"

"Brian knew." Tyler whispered. The room felt heavy. Evan could hardly breathe as the grief that filled the room drowned him. Memories flashed through his mind. He remembered rain and screaming till his throat was so hoarse, it felt like he would cough up blood. He remembered reaching, reaching, reaching, and grabbing nothing but air.

"We can't be like him. We can't make each other give up." Evan said, his voice shaking. Tyler and the others looked up at him, surprised that he would join in on the conversation. They thought that he didn't remember. "Brian...Brock...Marcel, they would all want us to keep going. They would want us to enjoy what we still have while we have it. They would want us to enjoy every morning and every afternoon and every night. They would want us to enjoy every leap of faith, and every time we step on the gas in our cars. They would not want us to despair over them. That would turn us Glitches."

It had rained all night and into the day. As the sun had risen, Brian found himself on the roof of the apartment, looking down at the pavement far below. He had wondered if there was more to this world than what he had seen. He remembered how his friends treated him. He had wondered why he ever called them his friends. No one in their right mind would want to be friends with them. He felt alone in this world. Alone and bruised and tired.

So very tired.

"Hey Brian, you bitch! Where are you?" Evan's voice had come from the stairs behind him. He didn't turn. "We're gonna go down to the pier! Jonathan wants more fucking popcorn! Brian?" He closed his eyes, trying to will himself to lean forward just far enough. "What are you doing?" Evan was behind him now. Brian had been surprised that he didn't push him. If it had been any other day, he was sure that Evan would have shoved him from the ledge and laughed. "Brian?"

"Go away, Evan. Just go the fuck away!"

"No! What are you doing?"

"I'm tired, Evan!" Brian had turned suddenly, almost losing his balance on the edge. "I'm so tired of you! I'm so tired of everyone and the way you fucking push me around like I'm nothing to you! You don't fucking care about anyone but yourself! I fucking hate you! I hate you all!"

"Brian please! I'm sorry! If you feel that way, you can tell us! Not freaking me out by standing on the roof of the building." Evan had snapped.

"You won't listen! I told you before!"

"When?"

"I can't count all the times!"

"Just get down from that fucking ledge and let's talk about this, okay? Come downstairs. We'll go to the pier and we'll get some good food and it'll all be fine. Just come down from the ledge."

"I'm done."

"Brian."

"Fuck you." Evan had looked away when Brian spit at him. Brian was glad that he couldn't see Evan's expression under his owl mask, the yellow eyes burning into Brian. He had almost wanted Evan to push him from the ledge. Instead he didn't, only took a step back from Brian, towards the stairs and held out his hand.

"Please...Step down from the rail."

"I'm so done, Evan. This existence. It's too much. I'd rather be a Glitch than continue to exist like this!"

"Don't say that!" Evan had cried, looking up at Brian with wide eyes. Brian had wondered where this kind of caring had been before when it mattered. "Don't say that you would rather be a Glitch. Don't say that! We care about you, Brian! I'm sorry that we have been such fucking assholes to you! We can make it better! We can make it all better."

"No. No you fucking can't make it better." Brian had yelled back, tears stinging his eyes. Evan's eyes as widened, looking at the ledge behind Brian. He had only to take one step. "Nothing is ever better in this world. It's just violence and blood and then we come back again and do it all over again! There is no point! I wish it would just end! Just get hurt and then never come back again...Wouldn't that be grand?"

"Stop this."

"It'd be so nice...To only suffer once. Then it's all over. No coming back. No Glitches. Just nothing."

"That doesn't exist, Brian. Stop saying this things!"

"Why?" Brain had stared darkly at Evan who stared back, his eyes wide with fear and sadness. "Does my despair upset you?"

"Yes it does! You are my friend, Brian!"

"You never treated me like one!" Evan hadn't known what to say to that and Brian was glad that it shut him up. He turned away from Evan, looking back down at the pavement below and the purple neon lights that illuminated the apartment building in the dark, pouring rain. Evan had screamed Brian's name repeatedly but it went unheard. Footsteps had echoed on the rooftop as Evan got closer, reaching for Brian who finally leaned forward far enough.

The rain had washed the blood away as the Glitch got to his feet and staggered into the dark.


	8. Chapter 8

The convention weekend had been a dream. Evan had never been so happy before. When he finally got to hug his friends, the feeling of loneliness lifted from his shoulders. As he laid on the soft hotel bed listening to his friends drunkenly talk and laugh, he felt like he was floating. Though it might have just been the alcohol, Evan told himself that it his joy.

"Okay...Okay…" Brian had stammered, a silly smile on his face. "If you could be in any game, what would it be? And you can't just say shit like ' _g-mod_ ' and not explain."

"Well…" Brock had smiled from where he sat by the window, the dim winter lights from outside glowing around him. "I'd wanna be in _G-mod_ just because of all the different fun stuff you can do. Plus, you can create whatever you want. Imagine it, being able to just have whatever meal you want appear right in front of you."

"Me too. It'd be so chill." Marcel had smiled.

"Okay but what about a horror game? That'd be fun...But only if you knew you would survive." Luke had suggested.

"You are all lame." Tyler had scoffed from where he sat on the bed beside Evan. "I'd wanna be in _GTA._ I could own fancy stuff and fuck you all up...but you would still come back." Evan could have sworn that that had been Tyler's way of telling them that he loved them. "You'd all respawn no matter what stupid shit we did."

"And we'd all be together…" Daithi added. Everyone had smiled at that idea.

"We could rule a city."

"We could live forever."

"Yeah...Wildcat is right. The _GTA_ world sounds better than any of the others." Brock had smiled.

"But wouldn't it be...Violent?" Craig had suddenly asked, looking at the others with wide eyes. "I mean...Just look at the shit that you guys do to each other in that game! I'd hate to have to live through that. Like, one of you, probably Wildcat or Vanoss, comes along with a C4 or something and then whoever was close by has to deal with all that pain till I respawn. What kind of life is that? That sounds horrible!"

"Stop being such a bitch. It was a silly question, Mini."

"Well you guys were thinking deep about it! Why can't I?"

"Forget it!"

Evan could remember how Craig's face had darkened at being dismissed so quickly by his friends. Evan was too tired and too drunk to support him but he wished he had. Craig was right.

Who would want to live a life full of never ending violence?

It was raining. It seemed like it would never stop raining. Evan sat on the couch, his cheek pressed to the side of the couch as he stared at the window where bright purple neon light came in. He watched the rain, memories of blood being washing away on the street below flashing through his mind. All he could hear was the sound of rain and the occasional siren in the distance. He didn't have it in him to talk to anyone. No one did. No one could say anything since their argument after the explosion.

Evan couldn't stop thinking about what he had done to Brock and Marcel. He had washed his hands for hours when he tried to get the blood off, scrubbing and scrubbing as if it could take the memories away too. Once he had scrubbed them raw, he had wrapped his burned hands in gauze, the sting bringing tears to his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Evan looked up at Lui whose voice was barely a whisper. The circles under his eyes were dark. No one could sleep. Evan nodded, pretending to be okay. Lui tried to give him a small smile before walking towards the sliding door. Evan watched him open it and step onto the balcony, watching the rain fall and the flickers of the harsh neon lights. Evan looked away, seeing Daithi by the kitchen, a mug held tight in his hand. Evan tried to believe that it was coffee but it was probably something stronger. Tyler had locked himself in his room and didn't come out. Jonathan would float around the apartment in a daze, glancing at Evan from time to time with a strange look in his dark eyes.

"We should go out. We should do something. We can't stay in this apartment waiting to Glitch." Daithi suddenly said, startling Evan.

"Where? Where would we go?" Evan managed to say. "Everywhere we go...We'd see them."

"They are here too, Evan! We just need air. We need to get ou-"

"Guys! Guys come here!" Lui's panicked voice startled them. Evan pushed himself to his feet and Daithi followed him onto the balcony.

"Oh fuck…" Daithi stared at the street below with wide eyes. Evan felt a wave of nausea wash over him, forcing him to back away from the railing.

"It's like...they're gathering for something…" Lui stammered. "I'm going to get Tyler." He almost tripped over the frame of the sliding door in his rush to get inside.

"We're trapped in here...Oh god...Oh fucking god…" Daithi struggled to breathe as he turned away from the railing and hurried back inside. Evan took a shaking breath as he took a step towards the railing. His hands curled tightly around the cold, wet metal. Rain dripped from the roof above him, cold drops landing on the gauze that covered his hands, soaking through the cold material. He lowered his gaze to the street below, fear paralysing him.

The street swarmed with Glitches. Their wounds bled onto the pavement as they stumbled among each other.

They didn't attack each other for they were able to recognize another Glitch.

They stared around the street with empty, glitching eyes. Evan's attention was grabbed by the sight of golden, bloody, hair. The Glitch's face was crushed in and it's limbs seemed broken but still it managed to walk. Evan's eyes watered at the sight of Brian stumbling among the mob of Glitches. He had come back.

"What do we do?"

"We can't do anything! We're trapped here!"

"Are we going to become Glitches?"

"No! We'll figure this out!" Forced to come out of his room, Tyler paced the living room, his eyes turning to the window and the rain every so often. Evan sat beside Jonathan on the couch, his arms wrapped around a pillow that he buried his face in.

"Brian is out there…" Evan whispered, raising his face from the pillow to look at Jonathan with wide eyes. "He's out there…"

"It's okay, Ev. You did everything you could. He isn't going to hurt you. " Jonathan said softly. Evan shook his head. Though the memories that floated through his mind didn't seem to be his, he knew that he didn't do enough.

"What are you thinking, Tyler?" Lui asked from he perched on the arm of the couch beside Evan.

"We make a break for it. Get our cars...Step on the gas and don't stop till we far from here." Tyler said, turning to face them with dark eyes.

" We've lived here all of our existence!We can't leave!" Daithi protested.

"Then we stay trapped here till we Glitch?" Tyler cried. "It's our only option!"

The sound of their doorbell echoed through the living room.

They stared at the door with wide eyes.

How could someone have gotten past the Glitches that filled the street below?

No one moved.

The doorbell sounded again with urgency.

Tyler took a deep breath and began to move towards the door. He glanced back at the others like it would be the last sight he saw before becoming a Glitch. His hand curled around the golden doorknob and turned. The door swung open.

"You're all alright! Oh thank god!" The girl with hair so blonde it seemed to reflect the white lights of the hallway and create a glow around her like a halo. Beside her, Luke even seemed relieved to see them alright.

"Why wouldn't we be? Those Glitches are staying outside, aren't they?" Tyler asked, reluctantly letting the Glitch Hunters into the apartment. He walked back into the living room, the hunters following him with somber expressions. Evan watched Sydney as she sat down on one of the arm chairs, a worried look on her face.

"Not exactly." Luke sighed, leaning against Sydney's chair. Jonathan tensed.

"What do you mean?"

"You remember that Glitch that I told you about? The one that can hide it's identity? It's gotten powerful. It can Glitch people without even touching them. They just have to be around it...We are thinking that it must have been at that club that night when all of those people became Glitches. Now, we have reason to believe that those Glitches are gathering outside because the Glitch is here and they are waiting for it. If it becomes a full Glitch...If it reveals itself...Who knows what it could do to this city…" Sydney trailed off. Evan couldn't bring himself to look at anyone.

"It could be anyone! Why are you here? We would know if one of us was a Glitch!" Daithi cried, anger in his voice at the idea of being accused.

"We were notified a few weeks ago that one of you no longer seemed like himself." Luke explained, his eyes landing on Evan.

"Who fucking snitched?" Jonathan snapped.

"Craig." Sydney said softly. "Though I've heard that he has since Glitched."

"He has…"

"It could be possible that he Glitched as a result of simply being close to this Glitch. You were all at that club when it exploded and all of those people became Glitches. You were all present when Craig Glitched. Evan...What has been going on?" Luke said, kneeling down in front of Evan who kept his eyes down.

"Nothing! How dare you accuse Evan of being a Glitch? You know him, Sydney! You know him!" Jonathan yelled, getting to his feet. "Stay away from him!"

"Evan. Look at me." Luke demanded. Evan had no choice but to look up at him. Luke suddenly grabbed Evan's head and forced his eyes open, the force making him cry out in shock. He stared darkly into Evan's eyes, waiting to see them glitch.

"Stop it! He's Evan!" Jonathan cried, rushing at Luke only to be held back by Tyler. Jonathan whirled around, directing his fury at Tyler. "You let them in here! You knew they would blame Evan! You've always hated him! You and Craig!" The sound of bone cracking suddenly made them all jump. Jonathan had fallen to the floor, his hand over his bloody nose. Tyler's hand was bloody.

"Don't ever say that to me. I want Evan back to normal just as much as you do. I'd do anything for him. What have you done? Nothing but make his suffering continue." Tyler spat with rage. Luke let go of Evan whose eyes had only filled with tears.

"He doesn't have any signs to show that he is glitching...Which means that we will have to watch all of you. For all we know, you could just be trying to throw Evan under the bus because he went through a bad Come Back." Luke said, crossing his arms as he stared at the group.

"Evan has been saying weird stuff though!" Lui suddenly cried, all eyes turning to him. Evan wished he had kept his mouth shut and stayed neutral. "He said stuff like 'kill' and 'dead' and called us weird names! He called Jonathan 'Delirious'! The Evan you know wouldn't say stuff like that! This isn't Evan! This is the Glitch!"

"What about you, Lui?" Evan was startled by the words that came out of his mouth but he couldn't stop them as much as he wanted to. "You've been quiet this whole time! You didn't do anything when the others Glitched! You've seen me Come Back several times since that fall! You could very easily be the Glitch! You've wanted a chance to get rid of me ever since Arlan Glitched!"

"If I was the Glitch, I would have Glitched you long ago." Lui snarled before leaving the room, storming down the hallway. Daithi ran after him, trying to tell him that Evan didn't mean it. Evan sank onto the couch, burying his face into the pillow as if it could hide his tears. Luke walked to the front door and locked it, the sound of the bolt sliding into place echoing in Evan's ears.

"No one is allowed to leave till we find the Glitch."

The rain continued to fall. Jonathan sat on one of the lounge chairs on the balcony, a blanket wrapped around him. Evan did his best to clean the blood from his face like he had before. He imagined that he had done this countless times in the past with everyone. Evan wanted to say so many things to Jonathan but fear held him back. He knew he couldn't be the Glitch. He was Evan, but not the Evan that Jonathan wanted. He was a youtuber...stuck in a dreamlike world that didn't make sense. He tried to be the another Evan. The Evan that made him sick.

Yet as much as he separated these two sides, they were both the same person. He didn't know who he was anymore. He had played the role of the Evan they wanted and lost the Evan he thought he was in the process.

"I'm sorry that Tyler hit you." Evan whispered. Jonathan shook his head.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. Everyone is tense right now...That was bound to happen."

"It's all my fault." The cloth dropped from Evan's hand. The rain pattered on the roof above them. "All of this is my fault. I've been hiding things from you...The reasons why...Why everything bad keeps happening...I don't know who I am anymore."

"Evan...What are you talking about?" Jonathan looked up at Evan with wide eyes. "You aren't the Glitch...are you?" Evan shook his head. "Then what?" Evan couldn't bring himself to say the words he wanted to. There were too many words to say all at once. "Tell me, Evan!" Jonathan's hands suddenly grabbed onto Evan's shoulder, shaking him aggressively.

"I'm...I'm Evan...Just not the Evan that you want me to be…"

"What do you mean?"

"This is a dream! I don't remember what you want me to remember because I am not from this world! I am a youtuber! I play a game like this! I don't live it! But I keep getting these memories...memories of things that I've never done before! Horrible...Bloody...murderous things. I think I have fallen into this world...and I've replaced the person you know. Those things I remember...Those are his memories...Not mine. I called you 'Delirious' because to me...That is your name. I've never seen your face before. I've never met you in person before. I think that being here with you is the only good thing about this dream." Evan sobbed. "I'm not a Glitch. I'm not the Evan you want me to be! As hard as I try...I will never be that Evan! Please...Believe me! Don't kill me please! I'm from a world where Coming Back doesn't exist! Death does...I could lose you with one wound...That is the reality that I know...Not this." Evan looked up at Jonathan, praying that he wouldn't turn him in to the Glitch Hunters or just bash his head in on the railing right then and there. He wasn't sure what option was better. "Please...Jonathan. Say something."

Silence.

"Jonathan please...I'm sorry I'm not the Evan you want me to be. Please say something."

"You are Evan." Jonathan said after a few moments of heavy silence that had made Evan feel like he was choking. "Not a Glitch...But also not the Evan I know…"

"I'm Evan. Evan Fong. Please...Jonathan. Please...I need you. I can't get through this without you." Jonathan eyes slowly met Evan's, dried blood still covering his face.

"You are Evan. You might not be the Evan I know...but there are parts of you...I recognize. That's why I have believed you from the very start. You aren't the Glitch and you don't have to pretend to be the Evan from my memory. You are Evan. A little bit more emotional and crazy...But still Evan." Jonathan smiled and wiped the tears from Evan's cheeks. "No matter what strange world you claim to be from."


	9. Chapter 9

The air felt heavy. Tension forced words to be choked on and swallowed, never to be said. Fear sparked sudden movements. Anger led to side eyed glares, nervous glances and brewing hatred.

Anyone could be the Glitch. Anyone could be watching and waiting for the perfect time to reveal themselves as a monster.

Everyone was watching and waiting to see who would snap first under the pressure.

Luke and Sydney would patrol the apartment, watching everyone for any sign that would give away the Glitch. They couldn't trust those who had once been their friends and separated themselves from each other. Tyler claimed the bedroom, wrapping himself in blankets and refused to listen to Luke when he yelled at him for locking the bedroom door.

Daithi and Lui stayed close, sitting on the floor in the kitchen but distanced themselves.

Their trust was fading faster with every passing moment.

Lui would glare venomously at whoever stepped by him to get something to eat till they were gone. Daithi huddled into a ball in the corner, silent and watching.

Jonathan sat on the couch, trying to avoid the glares from Daithi and Lui or from Tyler when he emerged to get a beer only to disappear again down the hallway. He pulled his hood up and curled into a ball on the couch.

He wanted to be out of this apartment.

He wanted everything to go back to normal. What Evan had said had shaken him. He tried to believe him and the crazy things he had said. He just couldn't shake the feeling that something about Evan had become distorted.

Much like the Glitch.

He shook his head, angry at himself for having such thoughts. He was Evan, not the Evan he thought he was but still him.

Jonathan wondered if he could make this Evan into the one in his memory.

His gaze wandered to where Evan was outside on the balcony, sitting on one of the wicker chairs watching the rain. Evan floated between the balcony and the couch. He said that he just wanted air when he would get up and push open the sliding door but he wanted more than that. He couldn't stop thinking about how he had fallen into this world. Maybe the way out of it would be to fall out of it. He just had to work up the courage to do it.

Evan sat on the lounge chair, his arms wrapped around his legs as he watched the rain. The cold air sent chills through him but he was grateful for it. The cold was better than that warm, stuffy apartment. He wasn't sure how long he had been sitting out here, listening to the overwhelmingly loud city.

The sirens. The cars. The rain. The occasional gun shot. The Glitches. The sound of voices, laughing, shouting, screaming.

A tap on the glass startled Evan, snapping him out of his trance. He turned to see Sydney standing by the sliding glass, her hair so blonde it looked purple in the neon glow. She gave Evan a small smile.

"Luke wants to talk to all of you...You should come in." Evan nodded and got to his feet, following her inside. "How are your hands doing?" She motioned towards the gauze that tightly wrapped around his burnt hands. He shrugged.

"They still sting. The cold air feels nice." Evan explained, sitting down across from Jonathan as the other reluctantly entered the room. They spread out, not wanting to be close to anyone.

Anyone could be the Glitch.

"There is one common factor in all Glitches that we have learned. I'm sure you know of it too. Glitches hear everything. Most of them can't see because a major head wound is the leading cause of Glitching. Also, we think that the glitching in their eyes also blinds them. So they have developed incredible hearing. You are all going to be honest when I ask you what you hear." Luke said darkly as he looked around the room at all of the boys.

"And if we aren't?" Daithi asked. Luke didn't answer. He didn't have to. Tension filled the room. Evan struggled to breathe. He had to remain calm if he wanted to survive this.

"What do you hear, Daithi?" Luke asked, staring down at Daithi.

"Nothing. Just the occasional siren from outside." Daithi shrugged. Luke nodded, stepping past him towards Lui.

"What do you hear, Lui?"

"I hear the city. Cars and stuff." Lui said, keeping his gaze on Luke. Luke moved on.

"What do you hear Tyler?"

"Like Lui said…Just the city."

"What do you hear, Jonathan?"

"The city and the rain."

"What do you hear, Evan?" Evan looked up at Luke with wide eyes.

He could hear everything. The sirens. The helicopters. The Glitches. People talking. The rain. Every heartbeat in the room. Ever since he had woken up in this strange neon world, Evan had heard everything.

Every secret conversation around him.

Every panicked breath.

Every pained sigh.

Every shriek from a Glitch. He heard it all.

"Nothing." He said, staring up at Luke. He prayed that he wouldn't see the slight nervous tremor of his hands under the gauze or hear how fast his heart was beating. Luke slowly turned to face the room. Evan couldn't breathe.

"One of you is lying."

"It's Evan! I know he fucking hears everything! I've seen him once, suddenly turning as if he heard something but no one heard anything! He hears everything! He listens to us talk about him!" Lui cried. "He's faking it because he knows what we wanna do to him."

"Shut up! Stop saying all these stupid fucking lies, Lui! You weren't angry at him before! Why now?" Jonathan snapped, getting to his feet to stare darkly at Lui.

"Because we have lost too many friends since all of this shit started with him. We are all going to Glitch! This world is going to end! Destroyed! All thanks to him." Lui snarled. "You've never really cared about us, have you Evan?"

"I do care!"

"Really? Cause all you have ever done was use us! You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for us! You fucking laughed at us when we got hurt and Came Back. You have been using us since the day Anthony found you suffering and look at what you did to him!"

"Shut the fuck up, Lui!" Tyler suddenly seemed tense at the mention of Anthony, his hands curling tightly into fists. Evan struggled to keep up. He didn't remember Panda being in this world. He had never seen him. Probably because he had Glitched long ago. He couldn't think of what to say for anything could be the wrong thing that would get him destroyed.

"I'm right, Tyler! You fucking know it! It's just like what he did to Arlan! Evan has Glitched so many of our friends! And now, he is a Glitch that is torturing us because that is what he has always loved to do! I bet he's trying not to laugh right now, aren't you, Evan?" Lui yelled.

"Are you sure you hear nothing, Lui?" Evan said, looking up at Lui with dark eyes. If he couldn't think of an answer to something he couldn't remember, then he would drag Lui down with him. Lui was taken aback by the question. "Are you sure you aren't lying?" Evan asked, standing up slowly. "You said that I had overheard all of your conversations but how do you know that? Maybe it was you who overheard everyone's conversations."

"It wasn't! I'm not the Glitch!" Lui cried as everyone stared at him with the same questioning glances they had once gave Evan.

"Has anyone ever checked your eyes?" Evan demanded, taking a step towards Lui who shrunk back, suddenly no longer supported. He was terrified.

"No…"

"Then allow me." Evan suddenly grabbed Lui around the neck, his hands tightening as he brought Lui to the floor. He pinned him down by the throat, staring darkly into his eyes as he leaned forward. "If keep trying to bring me down…I'm going to throw you over the balcony just like Tyler did to me. Then we'll see who the Glitch is." Evan wasn't sure why those words came out of his mouth. He felt powerful. A dark electric energy rippled through the room and put everyone on edge. Lui stared back up at Evan with terrified wide eyes, struggling for air. "Do you understand?" His growling voice was only loud enough for Lui to hear. Lui nodded frantically.

Evan let go and got to his feet, suddenly feeling dizzy. He leaned against the couch, suddenly feeling sick and disgusted by what he had just done. In his normal world, Evan knew he never would have hurt Lui like that.

This wasn't a normal world and he wasn't normal.

Daithi knelt down beside Lui as he coughed and breathed heavily, still shaking with fear. Evan turned to the Glitch Hunters who were still in shock by what Evan had done and the electric energy that had surged through the room. "H-He's fine."

The neon purple glow filled the dark room. No a single star could be seen in the orange hazy sky. The Glitches swarmed the street below, attacking any living soul who was unfortunate enough to find themselves there. The occasional scream of pain and shriek from a Glitch would echo up to the apartment, breaking the usual sound of the neon lights buzzing.

Evan sat on the floor by the large windows, leaning his head against the cool glass. It had finally stopped raining but clouds still lingered on the horizon, a warning of a coming storm. He couldn't stop thinking about the violence that had overcome him. When he had grabbed Lui's throat with enough force to turn him into a Glitch, he hadn't thought twice about it. Something in him had enjoyed the violence and wanted more. It had felt animalistic. It had felt like he had sharp claws and teeth and craved the taste of blood. It had felt like he was a monster.

The soft sound of voices drifted down the hall, their words catching Evan's attention. He was sick of listening to the harsh noises of the city around him.

"That wasn't our Evan that did that."

"I think Evan is the Glitch. He has changed his identity since that fall, hasn't he? This Glitch is hiding its identity behind something else. It's very possible that to protect itself it purposefully took away some, if not all, of it's memory. You were there when Evan came too after the fall...I heard you were the one that threw him over the railing. How bad was his head wound?"

"I didn't mean to glitch him, Luke!"

"How bad was his head wound?"

"...He should have Glitched. There was so much blood. Marcel thought that for sure...he would Glitch. I tried to stay hopeful but not anymore."

"Did you Glitch Craig?"

"No. Jonathan did it. I don't know if Evan was close to them when it happened."

"We will deal with Evan in the morning. We'll have to wound him...Shoot him...Either he will Glitch as a result of being being so close to the result or he will reveal himself as the Glitch we are searching for. Either way, he'll be destroyed tomorrow."

"Good. I can't stand looking at him anymore."

Evan felt sick. He had to get out.

He had to get out.

He had to get out.

GET OUT.

Forcing himself to think clearly and breathe, he got to his feet, stumbling towards the couch where Jonathan slept. He placed a gentle hand on Jonathan's shoulder, waking him from his deep slumber.

"Ev...What is it? What's wrong?" Jonathan sat up, fighting back a yawn.

"Shh…" Evan glanced nervously at the hallway where he had heard Luke and Tyler. "They are going to destroy me tomorrow morning...I have to get out of here!" Jonathan's eyes widened, looking nervously at the hallway. He should have asked Evan there how he knew but he didn't. Instead he nodded, throwing back the blanket and grabbed Evan's hand. They tiptoed towards the front door, pulling on their masks and jackets along the way. Evan stopped to tie up his shoes despite Jonathan's urgency.

"We'll get your car and we're gonna step on the gas and not stop till we're far away. I know of a place we can go. No one will find us...Do you remember it, Ev? Only you and I know of it." Jonathan whispered, his eyes on the hallway. Evan looked up at him, images of a bright warm sun, shattered glass on sparkling cement, a bright blue swimming pool and palm trees flashing through his mind. "Well...The other Evan and I only know about it." Jonathan corrected himself. Evan stood up once his shoes were tied and hugged Jonathan. He was surprised, not sure of what to do for a moment.

"I'm so happy that you believe me...But I'm sorry for making you go through of all this. " There were tears in Evan's eyes that fell down his cheeks under his owl mask.

Jonathan didn't nod. He didn't confirm that he believed him.

"Come on. Let's get out of here." Jonathan said, moving away from Evan. He slid the lock back, the sound echoing through the silent apartment.

"Hey!" Luke's voice suddenly yelled.

"Run!" Jonathan threw open the door and bolted down the hallway. Evan followed, slamming the door just in time on Luke. Jonathan pushed open the door to the stairs, the harsh white light hurting Evan's eyes. They sprinted down the stairs, hearing Luke yelling after them. A sudden gunshot rang through the air, echoing painfully in Evan's ears.

The bullet ricocheted off the railing next to him and hit the cement wall. "Fucking Christ!" Jonathan looked back up the stairs to Luke but didn't stop. "Come on, Evan!" Jonathan vaulted over the railing to the stairs below, his arms flailing out as if to propel himself farther through the air. Evan forced himself to do the same, his gauze covered hands slipping on the smooth metal. He stumbled, slamming into the cement wall. He grit his teeth in pain but forced himself to keep going. Adrenaline coursed through him, forcing him to run faster.

Another gunshot rang through the staircase.

Evan's breath suddenly caught in his throat as pain exploded through his right shoulder.

Blood splattered onto the cement.  
He stopped, his hand shaking as he pressed it to his shoulder and came away bloody. "Evan!" Jonathan's scream hurt his ears. Arms suddenly wrapped around his throat, the cold metal of a gun barrel pressed to his temple. He struggled against Luke who held on tightly, his grip choking the air from his lungs.

"I knew it! I knew it all along! You are the fucking Glitch!" Luke snarled. "You think you're smart, eh? You're lucky? Not any fucking more." His hand tightened on the gun. Jonathan stood on the landing below, looking up at Luke with wide eyes. Evan closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath. Electricity surged through the hallway as Evan threw himself forward. Luke was thrown over Evan and hit the cement stairs in front of Jonathan suddenly with a sickening cracking sound. He screamed in pain as he tried to roll, looking up at Evan with wide eyes as he stepped down towards him, a dark look in his eyes. He grabbed Luke under the arms and pulled him up aggressively. He slammed Luke's head against the cement wall, another crack echoing through the staircase. He slammed his head against the wall again, feeling blood drip onto the gauze that covered his burned hands. Evan didn't think twice, grabbing Luke's collar and threw him over the railing to the staircase below.

He didn't get up. Blood dripped down the stairs.

"Evan…" Jonathan stammered. Evan fell against the wall fighting the urge to be sick. Jonathan was suddenly there, hoisting him back up. He pulled his arm around his neck, the other around Evan's waist as he helped him down the stairs. "It's okay...It's okay. It's what you had to do…He would have destroyed you." Evan wasn't sure who Jonathan was trying to comfort. They moved past Luke's body, avoiding the blood that covered the stairs. They didn't notice his eyes glitch. They reached the bottom of the stairs, pushing the door open to the lobby. As Jonathan hurried towards the door that lead to the garage, Evan noticed the lights on the elevator.

"Jon...Someone is coming down."

"Don't stop!" Jonathan cried, pulling Evan towards the door. He pushed it open, both of them stumbling into the white, polished garage. Evan fumbled to find his keys as they hurried towards his sports car.

A sudden gunshot rang through the air, sparks flying off Tyler's car beside them. They turned to see Sydney at the door, her hair so blonde it looked as white the room. Her hands held onto her gun tightly, her eyes wide. Evan couldn't tell if she was scared or angry.

"Stop! Right there! Don't move!" They froze, turning to look at her slowly.

"Sydney...I-I'm not the Glitch! No one believes me and they are going to destroy me tomorrow...I have to get out!" Evan tried to reason with her. She shook her head, her grip tightening on the gun.

"I don't believe you. You are the Glitch. You want to destroy us all." She didn't sound as confident as she wanted to be.

"Please...Just let me go. I won't ever come back." Evan pleaded.

"No matter where you go there will be Glitch Hunters. Besides...you want to be the Evan that you destroyed. You'll come back here." Evan took a step towards her, trying to show her that he wouldn't hurt her. "Don't come near me!" Evan held his hand out towards her, the other reaching to take his mask off.

"I'm Evan...The Evan you know. I haven't destroyed him. I know you, Sydney. Beautiful, funny, sweet Sydney. Let me go and I won't come back. I promise. I won't ever hurt you or anyone else." Evan let the mask fall to the floor.

"You're not the Evan I know. There is something... Different about you. Something wrong." She shook her head. Evan stepped closer to her, the yellow eyes of the owl mask watching him as intently as she did. She took a step back, finding herself against the white wall. She held the gun tightly, aiming at Evan. He wasn't sure if she could actually do it...If she could actually pull the trigger and destroy him. He took another step towards her.

"Plea-"

The gunshot rang through the garage. It echoed painfully in Evan's ears as he stumbled backwards. He was faintly aware of Jonathan yelling his name. He pressed his hands to his chest, the gauze soaked with his blood. He fell to his knees, staring up at Sydney with a heartbroken gaze. The floor rushed up to meet him. He hit his head off the cold polished floor and the world spun around him.

The world started to blur and fade around him.

Blood pooled on the white polished floor.


	10. Chapter 10

"Evan? You okay?"

"Is he still in the call?"

"I think he fell asleep."

"Evan?"

Evan's eyes snapped open. He gasped for air, bracing himself for the pain of the Come Back. His hands pressed to his chest to stop the blood that oozed from his wounds.

There wasn't any blood.

There wasn't any pain.

There wasn't any gauze on his hands.

There was no red and white jacket.

He did not lay on the white polished floor of a garage.

He sat in his chair in his office, his headphones on his head, controller held limply in his hand. He was home. It had all been a dream.

"I-I'm here…" Evan stammered. "I'm here."

"Did you fall asleep or something?" Tyler laughed. His voice crackled through his headphones.

"Something like that." Evan said, relaxing into his chair.

"I told you to pinch yourself if you were falling asleep! Didn't I, Wildcat?" Brock laughed.

"I don't think that really works, Moo."

"Should we end the session here, Vanoss?" Jonathan asked. Evan had never been so happy to hear that name.

"Yeah...Sleep well everyone." Evan said and left the call. He pulled his headphones from his head and set them down on the desk with his controller. It had all been a dream. He had fallen asleep playing GTA. Of course he would have a nightmare about it. "That's what they say...If you play too much of one game…" He whispered to himself.

He sat for a long time in that chair, staring at the blank screen in front of him. Glitches weren't real. Come Backs weren't real. His friends were not around him and they weren't trying to kill him. They were all over the county, some farther than that. The Jonathan in his dream couldn't be the real Delirious.

Everything was as it should be.

Evan pushed himself away from the desk, the chair's wheels spinning on the wood floor. The sky was starting to brighten as the morning dawned over the city. Evan breathed a sigh of relief.

There was no neon.

He couldn't hear anything but the occasional sounds from the city.

Evan had never loved the silence so much before. Turning away from the window, he left the room, moving slowly down the hallway. His fingers brushed against the walls, touching everything. He wanted to make sure it was all real. He could remember his dream so clearly. It felt so real. He could remember the pain so clearly that he could still feel it. He had to put his hands to his chest again to remind himself that there wasn't a wound there.

He made his way slowly to the bathroom, the bright white light flicking on with a soft buzz. He turned the taps on, splashing cold water onto his face. Something warm trickled down his face. He opened his eyes, seeing the water run red with blood. He stood up, looked at his reflection and screamed.

A Glitch stared back at him in the mirror.

The side and back of his head had been smashed in from a serious fall and the front of his chest was covered in blood, the wound oozing blood like it was fountain. His face was covered in the blood that came from the wounds on his head. His eyes were wide and glitching aggressively. Evan screamed, falling back against the wall. The Glitch in the mirror did the exact same thing. Evan had become a Glitch without even noticing it.

Evan screamed, looking down at his chest and saw all the blood. He put his hands to his smashed head and they came away bloody, bits of flesh hanging off his fingers. His legs gave out under him and he crumpled to the floor, blood splattering onto the white polished floor where he fell.

"I'm not the Glitch… I can't be the Glitch…" Evan whispered, tears falling from his glitching eyes. He hit his head off the floor and the world spun around him. The room began to blur and faded into darkness.

Blood pooled on the white polished floor.

"Evan! Come on! Come back! Come back to me! Come on!"

"Let him Glitch!"

"Come Back...Evan! Come back!" The white garage came into focus. Jonathan's face hovered over Evan. He couldn't see his eyes through the mask but Evan knew he was crying. "Hey...Hey! You're okay. You're okay! See...The wound is gone. You're okay." Jonathan spluttered, holding Evan tightly.

"Get away from him, Jon! He's the Glitch!" Sydney's voice hurt Evan's head. He wasn't sure what was real anymore. The pain he felt was real but his home that he had just seen and the Glitch in the mirror was just as real.

"No he isn't! He came back and didn't Glitch! He's fine!" Jonathan cried. He lowered Evan down to the floor and stood up to face Sydney. She held her ground despite how terrifying Jonathan looked with blood, old and new splattered across his mask and blue hoodie.

"He should have Glitched! If he isn't the Glitch, then simply being around that monster would have turned him into a Glitch with the next wound he got! Can't you see it, Jonathan? Trust me! I'm right! Evan is a monster!" Sydney cried, still aiming the gun at Evan as he sat up shakily.

"He isn't! Put the gun down and listen to me!"

"No! You listen to me! I'm a Glitch Hunter! What are you? Nothing but a Glitch waiting to happen!"

"Please!"

"He's the Glitch! I'll show you!" Another gunshot echoed through the garage. Evan cried out in pain as he fell back onto the white floor, another wound in his chest oozing blood. He gasped in pain, tears falling from his eyes "See! He should be Glitching but he isn't!"

"Stop this! You are making him suffer! Isn't that worse?" Jonathan screamed in anger. Evan gasped for air, blood filling his airways. He choked and coughed up blood, the taste of it making him feel sick.

"J-J...J-J...Jonathan…" Evan choked out, reaching for him. He didn't notice, only continued to yell at Sydney.

"If he's suffering, he should be turning into a Glitch! Why isn't he turning into a Glitch? Why, Jonathan?" Sydney yelled. Evan couldn't breathe. Blood filled his lungs. He felt like he was drowning, the world becoming blurry. He tried to roll over in an attempt to spit the blood out but the pain was too overwhelming to move.

"Because he isn't a Glitch! He couldn't be…right?" Jonathan said quietly, looking back at Evan whose head fell back onto the floor as the world went dark.

"You believe me...don't you?"

"Don't…"

"You can't deny it. He hasn't been the person you love since that fall. You have to destroy him."

"I can't…"

"If you won't let me do it...You have to. If you care about him take him far from here to do it. The others won't have any mercy on him. I won't either."

"I thought you loved him."

"I love Evan. Not a Glitch."

Hands grabbed Evan under the arms and began to drag him along the floor. He was pulled into a car and laid down on the backseat. The sound of the car door closing hurt his ears.

"How do I do it?"

"A hit to the head. If it's quick...He won't feel a thing."

The hum of the engine was soft and soothing. Evan could see the palm trees going by the window from where he laid in the backseat. Morning had come, the bright light blinding to him as he opened his eyes. Putting his blood soaked gauze covered hands to his chest, he realized the wounds were gone, leaving only holes in his jacket and dried blood.

He didn't know how long he had been out for. His memories of what had happened to him in the garage had become faded and painful when he tried to remember them.

He turned his gaze to the front of the car, seeing Jonathan driving. His grip on the steering wheel had turned his knuckles white. He seemed nervous. Evan sat up slowly, pressing a his hand to his aching forehead.

"J-Jon?" Evan stammered. Jonathan jumped, looking back at Evan. He had kept his mask on, hiding his expression underneath.

"You're awake! How...How do you feel?" Jonathan sounded nervous, stumbling over his words. Evan didn't question it. Maybe he was just nervous about being found by the others that they had hoped to leave behind at the apartment.

"Achy…" Evan leaned his head against the seat in front of him. "I need to wash this blood off...How did you get us away from Sydney? I thought for sure that she would destroy me."

"I uh...fought her. Yeah. Pushed her back and dragged you into the car and hit the gas. I had to drive through that mob of Glitches. It was...terrifying." Jonathan stammered. Evan should have asked what was making him so nervous but he didn't.

"Where are we going?" Evan asked instead.

"You don't know?" Jonathan looked back at him then saw Evan's serious expression. "Right...Of course you don't fucking know." He sounded angry. Evan shrunk back, leaning against the back seat. "We're going to a place in Long Beach." Evan nodded slightly at Jonathan's answer, fidgeting with his bloody gauze.

His muscles ached and his clothes felt stiff with dried blood. He wanted to wash it off and change his gauze. His hands were starting to scab, the burning sensation starting to fade. He was glad that the reminder of what he had done to Brock and Marcel was starting to fade.

"Are you mad at me, Jonathan?"

"No."

"What's wrong then?"

"Stop talking for awhile...okay?" Jonathan sighed, leaning his head back against the chair. At a stoplight, he glanced back at Evan and sighed again. "Come sit up with me, okay? Just...this once...pretend that you are my Evan. I won't ask you again to pretend. Just this once. Please?" Evan nodded slowly, and climbed into the front passenger seat. He didn't say anything, only sat there awkwardly and gave Jonathan the occasional smile every so often. His presence relaxed Jonathan, his grip on the wheel relaxing. "Don't ever think that I'm mad at you, Ev. I'm mad at the universe...at everything that lead to this happening."

"We're all upset. I understand, Jon."

"Evan...You'll forgive me, right? For anything I do? You'll always forgive me, right?" Jonathan suddenly asked, his eyes wide under his mask. It looked like he was going to cry.

"O-Of course...Jon. Besides...I doubt you could do anything that would upset me that much."

The sports car came to a stop in front of a chain link fence that surrounded an old, abandoned motel. Palm trees lined the property. They got out from the car, jumping the fence and landing on the pool deck. Shattered glass from the broken windows crackled under their feet. The pool was empty but it was still painted a bright blue like the sky above. Evan looked around, hearing the faint buzz of neon lights and the sound of the traffic on the highway a few streets over.

"We found this place one night when we had gone down south once and it was late at night when we were coming back. Both of us were tired and we thought this place was still open. Till we saw the fence." Jonathan laughed, glancing back at Evan as they walked around the empty pool. "But you said that we should just jump the fence, kick down a door and crash here anyways. I said that it would be overrun with bugs but surprisingly...it wasn't. Every time that we've wanted to get away from the guys, from the major downtown of Los Santos...We came here. I wish you could remember those nights."

"I do too." Evan said, smiling sadly. Jonathan looked back at him a bit confused.

"I thought that you wanted to stay yourself...the youtuber Evan." The words sounded strange when Jonathan said them. Evan didn't answer, looking down at the empty pool. At the bottom, a puddle of dirty rainwater had formed. Evan stared down at his bloody reflection, the memories of waking up in his home only to see himself as a Glitch running through his mind. He shook his head, trying to get rid of the memories.

"What are we doing here?"

"I wanted a quiet spot. She told me to take you far away."

"Jonathan what's going on?" Evan stared at him as he stopped on the other side of the pool, looking down at the dirty water. "Jonathan!" He reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun. He moved slowly around the pool, towards Evan. He took his mask off with his free hand, dropping it to the pool deck.

"I need you to do something for me. I need you to be my Evan. I don't believe this other world bullshit anymore. Either you're Evan or you're the Glitch! Sydney is right! You should have been Glitching from all of those wounds...from the suffering you went through. If you are the Glitch...I have to destroy you! You always said that you never wanted to suffer once you became a Glitch." Jonathan sobbed. Evan stared at Jonathan with wide eyes, shaking his head.

"No...No...You said you believed me! I need you, Jonathan! I need you! I'm so scared and confused! I'm so lost and you are the only thing that seems familiar to me! Please! Don't...Don't...Just stop! Put the gun down and let's talk, okay?" Evan cried.

"No! I can't do this anymore, Evan! Either you are going to kill us all, or we've left a horrible Glitch back home and it's going to kill everyone! So the faster we do this...the better! Take this. I can't live with myself if I have to destroy you!" Jonathan shoved the gun into Evan's hand, forcing him to curl his burned hand around it. "Shoot me. Shoot me right now! If you are Evan, you'll laugh and I'll come back and it'll all be okay! If not, you Glitch me and I don't have to fucking deal with losing you anymore." Jonathan's voice caught in his throat. Tears fell from his wide eyes to the cement that sparkled in the warm sunlight.

"No! I won't do it!" Evan cried. "I need you!"

"Shoot me, Evan!"

"No!"

"Shoot me!"

"Stop this!"

"Fucking do it, Evan!"

"Stop!"

"Shoot me!"

The gunshot rang through the courtyard. The bullet had flown past Jonathan and hit the wall of the motel behind him. Jonathan stared at Evan with wide eyes, anger and fear running through him. Evan struggled to breathe, angry with himself for pulling the trigger and almost hurting the person he loved so much. He felt sick.

"I'm sorry…I can't do it."

"I thought...I thought that I could make you...you again." Jonathan sobbed. He sat down, his legs dangling over the edge of the pool. He covered his face with his hands as he sobbed. "I thought that if you did something that wasn't anything new to you...you would be you again. I want you to be you again so bad. I tried to believe you! I tried so hard! I lied to you and to myself. Sydney told me what I have to do but...But I don't know if I can do it! I keep trying to tell myself that you are you so I don't have to do it but...you aren't you anymore...No matter how much I try to tell myself otherwise. Are you the Glitch, Evan? Don't lie to me. Please."

Evan sat down beside Jonathan, setting the gun down between them. His dream of seeing himself as the Glitch ran through his mind. He could very easily be the Glitch...But he didn't feel like a monster. He still felt like himself. "Honestly...I don't know. I want to give you a yes or no answer but I can't. I feel like me, Jon. I feel like there is nothing wrong with me. Just the world is wrong." He looked at Jonathan whose eyes slowly got wider. "What does a monster feel like, Jon? Do Glitches know they are gone? Do they know they are Glitches or do they continue to try to live their normal lives? If so...And if I am the Glitch...Then maybe that is what I have been doing this whole time. Maybe I'm not from the world I think I am. Maybe I have always belonged here and I think life is normal...but I've become a monster? I don't want to hurt you, Jonathan. I don't feel a need to inflict harm on anyone. I don't want to be a monster." Jonathan couldn't stop staring at Evan. Fear seemed to make him freeze. Evan didn't notice, looking down at the dirty water and his distorted reflection. "I think this world is beautiful in it's own...disturbing way. I got to have my friends around me. I got to see a world that I normally just see through a computer screen. As odd as it all is...Nothing else seems wrong. I think...I think that I am me."

Jonathan didn't say anything. He only stared at Evan, reaching slowly for the gun between them. "Evan…" Jonathan finally said. Evan looked up at him, finally seeing the fear on his face. "Your eyes are glitching."


	11. Chapter 11

The cement of the pool deck was hot, absorbing the heat of the day. The palm trees swayed in the gentle breeze that was little relief from the heat. The sound of cars on the highway drifted around the abandoned motel courtyard.

Evan stared at Jonathan, trying to understand what he had just said.

No one moved.

Jonathan watched Evan intently, waiting to see if he would snap.

"How?" Evan whispered, his eyes wide as he stared at Jonathan. "How?" He repeated, raising his voice loud enough to make Jonathan jump.

"You are the Glitch...You became a Glitch without even noticing…" Jonathan managed to say. He curled his hand around the gun, keeping his eyes on Evan. "I don't want to lose you, Evan...but I'd rather do this than make you suffer any longer."

"Jonathan don't...Please. I'm Evan!"

"No you aren't! Sydney was right!" Jonathan sobbed. "I promise I won't let you suffer!" Jonathan grabbed Evan around the throat, throwing him down onto the hot pool deck. Evan struggled against him, his eyes wide with fear. He struggled to breathe, trying to pull Jonathan's hands off his throat. He gasped, his hands falling to the pavement when the lack of air became too painful to handle. Just out of reach from his left hand was a long, very sharp, shard of glass. It glinted in the sunlight, the light almost blinding to Evan. He stretched his hand towards the shard, keeping his eyes on Jonathan whose tears dropped onto Evan's face. He took his right hand off Evan's throat to grab the gun, pressing the barrel to his forehead. "Please forgive me...Please...I'm so sorry, Evan."

"Don't…"

"I'm sorry." Jonathan suddenly screamed in pain, the glass shard stabbed deep into his side. Evan threw him off on to the hot pavement, the barrel hitting Evan's forehead with enough force to bruise.

Jonathan screamed in agony as he tried to pull the glass from his side, blood dripping onto the hot pavement.

The sound hurt Evan's heart.

Evan scrambled to his feet, running towards the motel, picking up another glass shard along the way. He found an unlocked room, stumbling inside and locking the door. He made his way to the bathroom, pushing open the old wood door. Setting the glass shard down, he gripped the sink as he stared at his reflection. Sunlight coming through the small window glinted off the mirror. Dust floated through the air.

Tears fell from his glitching eyes.

They seemed to almost have a glow to them like they were a computer screen. They glitched aggressively, different, unnatural colours flashing in his eyes. He didn't feel like a Glitch. He didn't want to kill Jonathan. He remembered what the Glitch Hunters had said. If he could turn people into a Glitch simply by being around them, then he just had to make other people Glitch themselves. He had torturing his friends this whole time, making them turn themselves into Glitches with their antics.

"Pinch yourself and you'll wake up." Brock's words floated through his mind. They meant nothing to him now. This dream had become a nightmare that he couldn't wake up from.

He heard a loud bang from the other room, seeing a burning hole in the door.

"Fuck…" Evan grabbed the shard, holding on to it tightly. He was surprised that he could still see with Glitching eyes. He smiled because Luke was at least wrong about one thing.

He could hear everything. He could hear Jonathan on the other side of the door, breathing heavily as he lifted the gun to shoot the door again. Evan leaned against the wall beside the door, wishing he didn't have to do this.

The door flew open, the sound of the gunshot ringing in Evan's ears. He stepped in front of Jonathan, hitting him hard in the face. He could hear the sound of bones breaking under his fist.

Another gunshot deafened Evan, pain blossoming from his side where the bullet had skimmed him and hit the mattress in a burst of feathers behind him. Jonathan stumbled backwards, trying to stop himself from falling onto the glass covered pool deck.

He swung at Evan, the barrel of the gun hitting him hard in the face. The noise that Evan made from the sudden pain was inhuman.

His shriek echoed around the courtyard.

Evan fell back against the wall, blood trickling down the side of his face as he stared at Jonathan with angry, glitching eyes. Jonathan and the Glitch stared at each other, waiting for the other to move first. The shard of glass in Evan's hand had cut through the gauze and into his hand, dark blood dripping onto the deck. Jonathan held the gun tightly, tears in his eyes as he stared at the monster who had just a few moments ago, been his best friend. The pain from the hit to his head had triggered something inside of Evan. He couldn't think anymore, only about the rage he suddenly felt towards Jonathan and the need to slit his throat open.

He didn't feel like Evan anymore.

"Evan…" Jonathan whispered. He didn't get a response.

Evan let out another shriek as he lunged forward, stabbing the shard of glass into Jonathan's shoulder. Jonathan screamed in pain, throwing the Glitch off. He managed to get his hand around Evan's throat, pushing him against the wall with all his force in an attempt to bash his head open. Evan shrieked, pushing him off and swung the shard at his throat. Jonathan stumbled backwards towards the pool, flailing his arms to stay balanced.

He raised the gun, pointing it towards Evan who tried to hit the gun from his hand as he pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed in Evan's ears, the bullet burying itself in the sun warmed wall behind him. Evan swung again, the shard cutting Jonathan's wrist. Blood spurting onto the pool deck. He dropped the gun, putting his hand to his bleeding wrist. If he didn't stop the flow, he'd bleed out.

Evan smiled a bloody, monstrous smile.

He stepped forward and shoved Jonathan backwards with all his strength. Jonathan screamed as he fell backwards into the deep end of the pool. He landed in the shallow dirty water that began to slowly turn red. Evan stared down at him. The rage he had felt faded and exhaustion came over him. He dropped the shard to the pool deck where it shattered into tiny, bloody pieces.

"Jonathan…?" There was no answer. "Jonathan...I...I'm sorry… I don't know what came over me…" Evan said as he moved around the edge of the pool. He reached the shallow part, jumping down onto the hot cement. "Jonathan? I'm sorry...I didn't mean to push you...I don't know why I did it...Please say something." Evan moved towards the dirty water and Jonathan's body. He knelt down, the water soaking through his clothes as he pulled Jonathan into his arms. His head had been smashed in from the fall, his wrist bleeding excessively along with his many other wounds. Even if he had survived the fall, he would not have survived the blood loss. "Jonathan?" Evan shook his shoulders aggressively, tears filling his glitching eyes. "Jonathan! Say something! Please!" Evan leaned his head against Jonathan's chest, sobbing uncontrollably. "I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry…"

Evan wasn't sure how long he had stayed there, sitting in the dirty rainwater turned red with blood, holding Jonathan's body tightly. He knew that Jonathan was going to Glitch, it was just a matter of time, but he knew he wouldn't attack him.

Glitches wouldn't attack him because they could recognize other Glitches. He realized now that that was why Arlan, Brock and Marcel hadn't wanted to attack him. That had been why the Glitch in the ring wouldn't fight him until he hit first and the Glitch was forced to defend itself.

The Glitches had known all along.

As the sky began to darken, rage began to overcome him. Evan was furious at this world, at everything that had made him into a Glitch.

His despair.

His anger.

His pain.

Evan wailed, pressing his face to Jonathan's chest as he screamed. His voice became more inhuman the more he shrieked, clinging to the body of his friend. He was furious at those who had surrounded him, who had all tried to destroy him. He wished they had.

As the sun set on the horizon, Evan realised what he had to do. He had to bring this horrible, disgusting world down and let it rot.

After dragging Jonathan's body into one of the motel rooms, taking his mask and hoodie off, Evan emptied the gun's bullets into Jonathan's skull, blood covering the mattress. With every gunshot, Evan wailed, tears streaming from his glitching eyes. He couldn't let Jonathan Glitch and see what destruction he was going to bring to this world. He couldn't let Jonathan see the monster that he had become.

As the moon rose higher into the sky, the Glitch left behind all the mercy he had left. He left behind the Evan he thought he had been. He pulled on Jonathan's bloody blue hoodie and his mask. He threw his red jacket over the fence and followed it, climbing up and over the fence. He picked up the jacket, opening the car door and sitting down in the driver's seat. On the passenger seat was the owl mask, staring at him with bright yellow eyes. It was the last reminder of Evan. He sighed, grabbing the mask and walked back to the fence, climbing back over it. The glass cracked under his feet as he walked back to the room, placing the owl mask on Jonathan's chest. He pressed a gentle kiss to Jonathan's bloody forehead. He returned to the car, turning the key. The car engine roared to life.

Stepping on the gas and speeding down the street, he left Evan and Jonathan behind.

He should have realised it before. He should have seen what he had become before. It was so obvious. Glitches heard everything. He heard everything. He wasn't attacked by the other Glitches because he was one. He had replaced his identity after the fall and taken away his own memory so he wouldn't even know what he had become.

He hadn't even noticed he had become Glitch.

The realization dawned on Evan as he drove back towards Los Santos and the apartment that he had always belonged to this world. The memories in his mind of somewhere else weren't real. His memories of being a youtuber had never existed. He had never done those things. He had been right when he said that he had memories of this he had never done, but the Glitch he had become had tricked him into thinking all the bloody memories were false.

He had never been Vanoss.

He was Evan and that Evan had become a monster.

He left the sports car a few streets over from the apartment, pulling Jonathan's mask down over his face and pulled the blue hood up to hide his dark hair. He carried his red and white jacket, blood still dripping from the leather. As he got closer to the mob of Glitches, he pretended to stagger with every step, not knowing who could be watching from above. He made his way through the mob, the Glitches around him moving away from to make way for the powerful Glitch.

Evan stopped when a blonde Glitch moved past him. It's face was crushed in and it limped on broken legs. Evan placed his hand on the Glitch's shoulder. Brian jumped, spinning to stare at Evan with glitching eyes.

"I'm sorry that we did those things to you. I'll let you have your revenge." Evan stared at Brian for a moment longer before letting go of him and continued towards the apartment building.

The Glitches followed him.

Evan reached the door, pushing it open suddenly. As it began to close, Evan looked back at the Glitches outside. He held onto his red and white jacket tightly as he punched the glass out of the door with his other hand, the glass cutting his knuckles. "Come on in." Evan smiled a monstrous smile.

He headed up the stairs, passed stains of blood on the stairs and walls. The gauze had become unraveled from his hands, now trailing on the stairs. He could hear the Glitches below, making their way into the building. Luke's body was still on the stairs, his head now bloody and smashed. Evan stepped over him as if he were nothing. He reached the top floor, pushing open the door to the hallway and knocked on the apartment front door. The door swung open suddenly.

"Jonathan?" Daithi stared at him with wide eyes. Daithi knew that something was different about him but he couldn't place what it was.

"I did it." Evan wasn't sure how he was doing it, but when he opened his mouth, Jonathan's voice came out. "The Glitch is gone." He said, pushing past Daithi into the apartment. Tyler, Sydney and Lui stood up in the living room when he walked in, all of them shocked. Daithi kept his distance, glancing at the gauze hanging from his hands and the blood that dripped from the cuts.

"What happened to your hands?" Daithi asked. Evan turned his head, glaring at Daithi so darkly he had to move away from him.

"It was a bad fight." Evan said, Jonathan's voice echoing in his ears. "He cut my hands...I'm horrible at bandaging." Evan turned his head towards Sydney and held the red and white jacket out to her. "I thought that you would want this." She took a slow step towards him, taking the bloody jacket from him.

"I'm sorry you had to do that, Jonathan. I know it must have been really hard for you." She said softly.

"Yeah...I'm sorry too."

"Jon…" Tyler was closer now, staring at him. "Can I see your hands?" An electric energy ran through the room. Under his mask, Evan smiled, his eyes glitching wildly.

"Of course, Tyler." Evan held his hands out, the gauze swinging from his hands. He could hear the Glitches getting closer, struggling to push open the door. Tyler stepped towards him, taking his hands. On his right hand was a deep cut from the glass shard he been holding. His knuckles were also cut from the glass door. On his left was nothing but the scabbed burns.

"Did Evan burn your left hand too?" Tyler said quietly, looking up at Evan.

"What? Oh…" Evan shrugged. "I don't know."

"Where did you leave his body?"

"At an abandoned motel in Long Beach. No one is going to find him there."

"So if you took me there...We would find Evan's Glitched...but destroyed body?"

"Yes. I could take you there myself."

"Why don't you take that bloody mask and hoodie off and just relax for a little bit. I'm sure that you have just been through something very traumatic."

"Oh I have."

Silence hung heavy in the room. No one moved. Evan could hear the Glitches in the hallway now.

"Take off the mask, Jon."

"Why? Do you not believe me, Tyler?"

"I do…"

"You know...He said the strangest things before I bashed his head in. He kept talking about how he believed that he was from another world. It was so strange...He thought that he had never done all of those horrible things that he did to us before. He scared me, Tyler."

There was a sudden bang on the front door.

No one moved.

There was another bang.

No one said a word.

Another bang.

"Go get the door, Daithi." Sydney finally said. Daithi nodded, moving towards the door. Evan smiled and let Jonathan's voice fade away. Evan smiled as he pulled the mask from his eyes, his eyes glitching wildly.

"You can't destroy me...But I can destroy you."


	12. Chapter 12

"He's the Glitch! It's not Jonathan! It's Evan! Daithi stop!" Tyler's warning came too late.

The door opened.

Evan smiled.

Daithi's scream rang through the apartment and as he fell to the floor, a mob of Glitches lead by Brian descending onto him with teeth and claws bared. Tyler swung his fist to hit Evan who laughed and blocked it easily. He hit Tyler hard in the jaw, feeling bone crack under his fist. He stumbled backwards, tripping over the coffee table, knocking over the beer bottles on the table and landed on the floor by the couch with a cry of pain.

Sydney tried to save Daithi, firing her gun at the Glitches. The gunshots echoed in Evan's ears, hurting his head. Her effort was futile, the mob of Glitches moving towards her once they were done with Daithi.

Tyler looked up at Evan with wide eyes, trying to get away from him. He crawled on the floor, stuck between the couch and the table. A sudden pain in Evan's back made him shriek, stopping him in his tracks. He spun to face Lui who seemed just as shocked as Evan was by what he had just done.

"I knew it...I fucking knew it. Everyone should have listened to me but they didn't.." Lui cried furiously. Evan smiled as he pulled the knife from his back, dark blood dripping onto the carpet.

"Of course no one listened. Why would they listen to you? What have you ever done for them?" Evan laughed, advancing towards Lui. "Nothing but be a fucking pain in the ass. You're a little kid! Useless!"

"Shut up! That's not true." Lui shook his head, trying to block out the thoughts that Evan was trying to put in his head.

"You can say it isn't as much as you but that won't make the truth go away." Evan smiled brightly.

Blood dripped down his face.

Lui's eyes went wide.

"Your head…"

"I tried to hide the truth but I like acceptance better. This head wound glitched me...Thank you Tyler." He turned in time to hit Tyler in the face with the handle of the knife as he tried to tackle him. Lui ran at Evan who spun suddenly, stabbing the knife into Lui's chest. "You should learn to accept it too." Lui coughed, spitting blood onto the floor.

"Stop! No! No! No!" Sydney's sudden screams were loud and harsh as Glitches attacked her, ripping flesh and splattering blood. Her screams echoed in Evan's ears till they faded away with a bloody gurgle.

The Glitches then turned their attention to Lui who had fallen to his knees, choking on blood. He stared at the Glitches with wide eyes then looked back at Evan, his eyes pleading.

"Don't…" Lui gasped. Evan smiled and kicked Lui's shoulder, sending him falling backwards into the mob of Glitches. Lui screamed as he torn apart, blood turning the carpet red. It wasn't long before Lui's screams faded and his eyes began to glitch.

"Looks like it's just you and me." Evan laughed as he turned to Tyler. His nose was bleeding, a dark bruise already forming on his jaw. "You are all so gullible. You could've stopped me at the door but you really thought I was Jonathan." Evan giggled. "He's taller than me!"

Tyler didn't find anything funny about it.

He glared at Evan darkly. He knew this was the end but he wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Did you know this whole time that you were the Glitch?" Tyler asked, his hands curling into fists. Evan shrugged.

"It's kinda like when you have a word on the tip of the tongue but you just don't know what it is. I even tricked myself! I think that's impressive."

"Do you even care about us anymore?"

"I think you have me confused with the old Evan. I'm the Glitch. I don't care. Why should I? There is nothing to care about." He smiled, his eyes glitching aggressively. Tyler shrunk back from Evan as he moved towards him, his eyes wide with fear. "Do you remember when you hacked me to bits in that maze? I sure fucking do. So what happened to that Tyler? Are you scared to fight a Glitch? Maybe you'd like to practice on that one…" Evan pointed to a Glitch that staggered through the mob.

Craig's wound was still bleeding as badly as it did the day he Glitched.

"Shut up!" Tyler yelled. "Shut up! You fucking monster! You're disgusting! You let everyone Glitch! I don't want to know what you did to Jonathan!"

"Oh come on...We all Glitch one day. You're one day just happened to come sooner than later. Like I told Lui...Acceptance is what is best for you right now. Don't fight the inevitable."

"Why did you do this to us? What did we ever do?" Tyler screamed, backing away from the Glitches that began to swarm towards him. Evan held out his hand, stopping the monsters from moving closer to him. Tyler was in awe of his power, of how in control Evan was. He had never had reason to be scared of Evan before.

He never wanted to be scared of Evan.

Now, fear overwhelmed him, making him feel sick as he stared at the monster that wore his friend's face. Tyler couldn't stop staring at the head wound on Evan's head. It was bleeding so much, the whole side of Evan's face had gone red.

It was almost as red as the jacket that was still held in Sydney's limp hand.

It was the wound that Glitched Evan when Tyler had thrown him over the railing. Evan noticed him staring and laughed.

"You did this to me, Tyler! If anyone gets the blame for all this...I think it should be you!" Evan giggled. "I'm just doing what comes natural to me at the moment. I have nothing left to be good for. Neither do you. I don't think you've have anything to be good for...since Craig glitched." Tyler couldn't bring himself to look at Craig. He looked away from Evan, towards the window and the balcony railing.

He wondered if he could end this.

"What do you want me to do then? Let your fucking monsters destroy me? Let you destroy me?" Tyler cried.

"Either or...It's your choice. This world disgusts me. Either you can stick around to see it destroyed...or not. At least you have a choice. The others didn't. You know...I've always liked you, Tyler. You have always been brave when we couldn't be. Or at least...You tried to be. You always said what was on your mind. I appreciate that...But deep down...I think you are weak. I think you are scared. I think you are scared of showing your despair. So you treated us all like we were nothing but toys you could throw around. Even if you hadn't have thrown me over the railing, you still would have Glitched me and we would still have ended up here. We were always going to end here." Evan sighed, leaning against the glass window.

Blood smeared on the glass.

Tyler's eyes drifted down to the beer bottles that had spilled, the amber liquid dripping to the carpet. Tyler looked back up at Evan who was looking out over the city and the neon lights. "We are always going to end here...No matter what we did."

Glass suddenly shattered on Evan's head, blood and glass hitting the window.

Evan shrieked, the painful noise startling Tyler and the other Glitches. Evan shoved Tyler hard, flipping him over the couch. As Evan lunged at him, Tyler drove the broken bottle into Evan's chest, dark blood dripping onto Tyler's face.

Letting out another shriek, Evan grabbed Tyler's collar and dragged him to his feet. He smashed Tyler's head against the thick glass.

Tyler gasped in pain.

His vision blurred.

He struggled against Evan who smashed his head on the glass again. A crack formed on the window. "You've made your choice. You wanna be a monster, don't you? You want to fight...to taste blood!" Evan laughed and hit Tyler's head again against the glass. "I'll turn you into a monster!" Tyler shook his head, looking at Evan with dark eyes.

"No...No...I don't want to destroy anyone...Just you." Tyler suddenly kneed him hard in the stomach, throwing the Glitch off him. He grabbed the fallen broken bottle, and swung at Evan who ducked.

He grabbed Tyler's wrist and twisted.

The sickening snapping sound echoed in Evan's ears.

Tyler screamed in pain, falling against the cracked glass.

"I told you, Tyler! You can't destroy me!" Evan laughed, picking up the broken bottle. "You just have to accept that!" Evan smiled and suddenly lunged forward to stab the glass through Tyler's throat. With his still good hand, Tyler grabbed onto Evan's collar, suddenly swinging him around.

He narrowly missed the glass shard.

Tyler smashed the Glitch through the glass, the window shattering into a thousand pieces.

They fell onto the balcony as glass rained down on them, reflecting the neon purple glow. Tyler didn't have time to recover, grabbing onto Evan's collar and dragged him to his feet.

"We're gonna finish this how it fucking started…" Tyler gasped, tears of pain welling in his eyes.

Evan laughed.

"There is no end to this! There is no end to this suffering!" Evan screamed. Tyler shook his head.

"I'm so sorry that this happened to you, Evan. I'm so sorry we did this. I'm so sorry that we never appreciated our existence." Tears fell from Tyler's eyes as he looked into his friend's glitching eyes. "Maybe something good will come from this...Maybe people will learn...not to treat their existence...their friends...like nothing. Of course you became such a cruel monster...You are a result of us…" Tyler closed his eyes, looking over the railing. Evan stared at him then slowly followed his gaze. The old him had wondered if that had been the way out of his world and back to his own.

That world was heaven, an unreachable thing. It wasn't real. Throwing him over the railing would do nothing. "I'm sorry, Evan."

Tyler held onto Evan's collar tightly as he ran towards the railing, dragging Evan with him.

Then he jumped.

Tyler fell over the railing, pulling Evan down with him.

The air whipped around them.

Neon lights flew past them.

Above Evan, the dark night sky, stained orange with the lights of the city began to fade. He heard a scream echoing in his ears as he realised it was himself screaming as he flailed his arms out, desperate to grab onto anything.

A sickening crack suddenly sent a shock of pain through him.

Darkness settled over him.

"Evan?"

"I think he fell asleep."

"Vanoss?"

"Are you still there?"

Evan's eyes snapped open.

He was sitting in his office chair, his controller on the floor where he had dropped it.

There were no neon lights.

There was no pain.

He wasn't falling.

The terrible world was locked away behind a screen.

"I'm...I'm here." Evan said softly. "I just...fell asleep for a moment there...Sorry." He laughed. Of course it was a dream. A horrible nightmare. They say that playing too many games gives you nightmares. He should have known that. Yet something seemed wrong to him. He had believed that dream. He had believed it so much that he thought that this world couldn't be real. Yet here he was, back where he had started.

Is this heaven?

"Do you wanna keep playing?" Jonathan asked. Evan smiled.

"Yes."

His eyes glitched.


End file.
